For a Pocketful
by Tassos
Summary: SGA Farscape: When D'argo Sun Crichton is kidnapped down a wormhole, he ends up in the wrong time, the wrong galaxay, and definitely the wrong reality where the humans of Atlantis must cope with his mistrust, his kidnappers, and...his parents.
1. Prologue and One

For a Pocketful  
By Tassos 

An SGAtlantis/ Farscape crossover

Disclaimer: I do not own any of the characters in this fic. All characters will be returned unharmed – well, relatively unharmed – it's dangerous out there.

Spoilers: Farscape: Peacekeeper Wars, Stargate Atlantis: general spoilers into early season 2

Rating: ages 10 and up. Nothing you wouldn't see or hear on TV.

I have vague notions about where this fic is going and given it's current length…yeah. The Farscape side of things will pick up as this continues. If you've read my other fic you know I tend to get a bit setup-y and plotty and take my time getting there.

As always, flames, criticisms, opinions, random thoughts, questions, comments, corrections, and this- totally-sucks, are welcome and encouraged.

* * *

**Prologue

* * *

**

When the ship fell from the sky, the villagers thought it was the Wraith come again. But there was only the one ship and it crashed in the forest with no sign of movement. Nevertheless, the Eseasans had long since learned the benefits of caution, so they waited before sending a few volunteers to investigate.

The ship had plowed into the ground and lay half buried from the impact of the crash. It was of a strange design, cylindrical and sinewy and pearly white underneath fresh dirt. The villagers couldn't find a door but they found a window. Soon after they sent their fastest runner back to the village with instructions to get word to the city that a new alien race had landed. It was only after the runner had sprinted off that the villagers saw the boy lying behind the dead alien, bleeding and staring out at them in pain, pleading silently for rescue.

An argument followed. Then the two women who had come to help dig told the men that they could go hang themselves. What about the boy's family? What about what he might know about the new alien? What about the fact that a child was dying the longer they took and what if he was their child? No one wanted to risk the wrath of anyone or anything, or even touch the new alien, so finally, after another runner went to the city and came back with word of a compromise. The Elders were going to ask Atlantis for help. They had the medicine and the guns.

While they waited, the villagers set to digging out the door.

* * *

**One

* * *

**

The new alien looked like a fish. John Sheppard watched it through the site of his P-90 as Beckett carefully checked for any signs of life in the thing. Its skin was rubbery and white, gleaming iridescently with gill-like things on the side of its head. Its clothes were white too, and John couldn't help but wonder at the white fixation. Maybe color hurt its eyes.

"I'm pretty sure he's dead," said Beckett quietly from inside the little ship. He knelt gingerly over the alien in the cramped space trying to avoid the blue goo that was probably blood and absolutely everywhere. "No sign of a pulse. These wounds look pretty bad." He waved at the ship's flight controls that were embedded in the alien's abdomen.

"Yes, and we know how dead the Wraith can look," muttered McKay from behind. John ignored him and simply nodded to the nurses and two marines who'd come with them that they were clear to help move the body. On the opposite side of the hatch, Ronon shifted his grip on his weapon. It took them a few minutes of untangling straps from the mangled body, but soon Mr. Fishy was tugged and pulled out of his chair and Beckett was once more diving into the cockpit only this time he didn't worry about the blood, blue or red, only the boy lying in the middle of it.

He couldn't have been more than ten years old. He'd been protected from the brunt of the impact by simply having been buckled into the back seat, but his crash straps over his shoulders and across his chest were now fused to his body, blood oozing from where they'd dug through his clothing and into his skin.

"Unconscious," said Beckett as his fingers found the boy's neck. "Rapid and thready. He's in shock. Probably internal bleeding from the looks of it."

"Will he be all right?" asked John, lowering his gun.

"If we get him back to Atlantis," said Beckett. "He's cold and I don't like this bleeding." He sat back a bit, considering. "I think we'll cut him out of the seat belt. Don't want to risk reopening anything till we get back to the infirmary. Come on, now."

John shifted out of the way of the nurses and let them get to work while he and Ronan joined Rodney and Teyla with the Eseasans. "What do you make of the creature?" asked Hovath one of the Elders who'd joined them at the site.

John shrugged. "I'm glad it's dead."

"But what was it doing with a human kid? And in a ship like that, the technology alone . . ." said Rodney. "You don't think it's related to the Wraith, do you?"

"Not enough hair." John glanced over at Mr. Fishy who was bald and wearing clothing a Wraith wouldn't be caught dead in. But McKay had a point about the kid. His eyes were drawn back to Beckett and his team as they carefully cut the boy loose and got him onto the stretcher. He was so young it was painful to see him so badly hurt. John was glad he was unconscious and glad that his black shirt and dark pants masked the blood.

"He's so small," said Rodney quietly. John nodded in agreement. Small and fragile but alive and with a good chance of survival now.

The marines bundled up the alien onto the second stretcher, and after goodbyes and well wishes from the villagers, John preceded Beckett back to the jumper.

* * *

"Mom, please! Please can I go over there? It's just across the street," D'argo twisted and pointed past the crates to the bustling market outside.

D'argo's mom didn't spare him a glance as she inspected labels in the shaded light. "No."

"Mo-om," D'argo tried again but she cut him off.

"I said no, D'argo. We'll go after we're done here or not at all." This time she gave him a pointed look that clearly said 'only if you stop whining.'

D'argo groaned loudly but knew better than to say anything. His little sister stuck her tongue out at him from his mom's other side. D'argo rolled his eyes at her, frustrated that the parts store was right across the street and he was stuck here bored out of his mind. "Mom – "

"No."

D'argo scowled. "I have my necklace, you know," he grumbled, picking at the short chain around his neck where a modified comm and a Hynerian Empire identification chip were soldered on as a permanent homing beacon. His parents had given it to him when he was little and constantly wandering off around Moya, and since then it had allowed them to find him when he got separated from them on planets, which, granted, didn't happen much, but sometimes. It was actually kind of exciting, though D'argo knew better than to just wander off. His mom was nothing if not creative when thinking up punishments.

He certainly wasn't going to wander off now and throw away all chance of going to the parts stall, but he was far from happy about it. His mom cracked open the crate and looked inside with a small frown. Muttering to herself, she moved on to the next aisle of food crates. D'argo let his shoulders slump and groaned again. This was taking forever. By the time Mom found food she was satisfied with, Dad would be back and it'd be time to go.

D'argo sighed loudly and kicked the nearest crate, looking away quickly when Mom glanced at him.

"Why do you want to get parts anyway?" she asked.

"It's for my project," said D'argo. "The next part is to make a motor, but Dad said I had to find the parts myself and nothing on Moya I can have is any good. So I have to go before we leave."

"We'll be stopping again before we get back into Hynerian space," said Mom.

"But it'll be weekens and weekens and I need the motor before Dad'll let me build the rest."

"This is your little car?"

"Yeah!" D'argo said with relief. She finally got it. He'd only been working on it since they'd left Hyneria. Parents were so dense sometimes. "So can I go?"

"Not alone," Mom smiled this time. "We'll be finished here soon. All right?"

"Yeah." D'argo sighed again but nonetheless followed her down the next aisle. At least he would get to go for sure now after suffering through all this. Bored and getting tired of walking and standing, he began to fall behind. He was well within eyesight and almost wished he wasn't when his sister Zhaanah got a piggyback ride when she was too tired to walk.

A shadow fell over him and D'argo looked up to see a white alien staring at him. He didn't recognize the race but didn't see any obvious weapons. Mom was pretty far away and the crates hid the guy from her line of sight.

"You are from the living ship?" asked the guy who was probably a female judging by voice tone. She was staring at him intently which was kind of freaking him out.

"No," D'argo immediately denied as he backed away and reached for the knife on his belt. He wasn't supposed to talk to strangers that weren't selling him anything. After last year with the Peacekeepers, D'argo never intended to again. The woman took a step towards him.

"Mom!" he shouted, but the next thing he knew the alien grabbed him and he was looking down the wrong end of Mom's gun with a needle at his throat. D'argo dropped his knife he'd managed to draw, heart racing and neck cringing away from the needle. He was caught and trapped, he was pinned and couldn't move, if he struggled he could die, he could die anyway, Mom wasn't moving, she was too far away. D'argo's breath caught and he didn't dare breathe.

"Let him go," said Mom, deathly cold.

"You are from the living ship," repeated the woman.

"You're a Pathfinder," Mom blinked.

"And you have something of ours."

"Let him go."

"When you give us the ship, you will get your offspring back." And then everything went white.

* * *

There was lingering pain beneath a hazy feeling when D'argo began to wake up. The second thing he noticed was that everything smelled wrong. It wasn't the smell of Moya but of something harsher, so when he finally opened his eyes it wasn't a surprise that he wasn't in his bed at home.

"Doctor," he heard someone say. He turned his head toward the voice and saw a sebacean woman with brown hair. And then D'argo realized that he was staring at a sebacean. He tried to sit up and move but his body wasn't doing what his head was telling it too. He could barely move! And there was that pain a little louder now. D'argo took a deep breath but that just made the pain worse.

"Whoa, there lad, calm down, calm down. No one's going to hurt you here," a man came over and put his hands on D'argo's shoulders to push him back to the bed. His accent was off for a sebacean. "There's a good boy. Just sit back. You're safe." D'argo stared at him, wide eyed and confused and not at all convinced that he was out of danger.

"Get away from me!" D'argo tried to push the man's hands away but he was too weak. "Get away!"

"Calm down, son," said the man removing his hands and taking a step back. "Just breathe – that's it. Nice and calm. No one's going to hurt you."

D'argo watched him carefully. The man raised his hands to show he meant no harm. He had a soft face and whiskers like an old man though his hair wasn't gray. He wore a white coat and smiled.

"No one's going to hurt you," he repeated. "You're safe here. You were in a bad accident and that's why you're hurt, but it's over now and you're safe, lad."

D'argo didn't remember much after the light. It was like a dream. He remembered waking up strapped into the woman's shuttle then seeing a blue funnel that could only be a wormhole in front of them. Then another bright, white light.

The man slowly lowered his hands. "I'm going to come closer now, all right?" D'argo tensed and shook his head. He didn't want the sebacean anywhere near him. The man smiled again and said, "I'm not going to hurt you, I just need to check your bandages." He waited for a response but all D'argo could do was shake his head.

"Stay away," he whispered even though part of him knew he really couldn't prevent the man from coming closer.

"All right," said the man. "I'll stay back. We'll talk for a bit, all right? My name's Carson. What's yours?"

D'argo blinked. His name? He couldn't tell him his name. He couldn't tell him his name at all. The white woman had wanted him for Moya; most others would want him for Mom or Dad. The peacekeepers had wanted him for Dad. What if they already knew his name and were just testing him? What if they found out? What if they tortured him to find out? What if – ?

"Hey, hey, hey, calm down," said Carson softly, his voice cutting through the sound of D'argo's own panicked breathing. "It's all right. No one's going to hurt you. If you don't want to talk it's all right. I'll talk. Do you know what happened to you? Do you remember the crash?" D'argo shook his head again and the man went on. "Well, some friends of ours found you in a ship that crashed with another alien, person. Do you remember being in the ship?" A jerky nod. D'argo remembered seeing a sebacean face through a window. "We don't know what happened to make you crash but you were badly hurt. You have some broken ribs and were bleeding on the inside. That's what hurts right now. I gave you some medicine to help with the pain, but all that thrashing around probably didn't help, did it?" He smiled again. "If you like, I can make the pain go away, but I'll need to look at your bandages first."

"Doesn't hurt," D'argo denied. It really did underneath the haze, but he still didn't want Carson coming near him. He wanted Mom and Dad and to be on Moya or at home on Hyneria. Thinking of them, D'argo's hand reached instinctively for his necklace but his hand didn't find it. Scrabbling at his own neck, he started to panic again and was surprised when Carson grabbed his hands and held them down.

"My necklace!" D'argo's voice was high and scared. "Where's my necklace!" It was the only way they'd find him! He had to have it. He'd never not worn it. It wasn't supposed to ever come off. "Get away from me!"

Carson told him to calm down, but whatever hold D'argo had had on calmness was gone, just like his necklace. He tried to push hands away but they wouldn't go. He tried to curl up and get away himself but it hurt too much. He tried and tried but there were more people and then everything started to slip away into darkness.

* * *

Dr. Carson Beckett sat beside his newest patient with a small frown on his face. It had been a half hour since his nurse had given the boy a mild sedative after his panic attack. He'd torn a few stitches Carson had had to go back and replace but that had been all. He was sleeping fitfully with his left hand near his neck. He'd sent a nurse to find the necklace. It was the least he could do considering the poor child had been scared out of his wits. Maybe they'd get a name out of him once he had it back, though given the personal space bubble a size to rival Rodney's, Carson doubted it.

He looked up when Dr. Weir entered followed by the Colonel and Rodney and rose to greet them.

"How is he, Carson?" asked Elizabeth as they joined him by the bedside.

"Sleeping now," he replied. "He was terrified when he woke up; wouldn't let me near him."

"Poor kid wakes up in a strange place with three broken ribs . . ." Sheppard let it trail off.

"Did he say anything?" Rodney asked all business. "Name, address, why he was with that other alien?"

Carson looked at the physicist. "When I say terrified, I mean he was hyperventilating when I asked him his name. He tore four stitches when I touched him, and when he found out his necklace was gone about threw himself out of bed."

"Necklace?" asked Elizabeth.

"We had to cut it off for the surgery. I sent a nurse for it."

"Necklace, right. Can I get that checked out before it brings the Wraith down on us?" said Rodney.

"Or any other . . . thing," said Sheppard with a pointed look.

"Good idea," Elizabeth agreed. "Let's hope the alien has understanding friends if they come investigating."

"I'll send it on then," said Carson turning back to the boy who was beginning to stir. The sedative hadn't been a strong one since he was already on strong pain killers. "If you could back up please, I don't want to overwhelm him," he said taking a step back himself.

This time, the boy's eyelids fluttered open then closed, before finally staying open. As before there was a moment before recognition set in and another attempt to sit up as the child's wide eyes took in the new people in the room. "No, no, lay back," said Carson wincing as he imagined the stitches pulling. "We'll not come any closer. I want you to meet some friends of mine." He turned slightly to do the introductions. "This is Elizabeth, Rodney, and John." The boy followed with his eyes, lingering on Sheppard.

Elizabeth smiled. "Hey there," she said in her best reassuring voice. "We came to see how you were doing. I know you're scared but you have nothing to worry about here. We're not going to hurt you." The boy glanced at her before his eyes went back to Sheppard. Carson looked at the Colonel who was smiling lopsidedly at the boy.

"What's your name?" Sheppard asked with his best charming smile. The boy's eyes flickered down then up but he remained silent. "Come on, you gotta have a name," Sheppard said teasingly. "I bet I could guess."

"Guess a name from a culture you know absolutely nothing about? You'll be guessing into the next century," said Rodney. "Just give him a nickname already so we can get to the questions."

"Rodney," said Elizabeth with forced patience as she, Sheppard, and Carson glared at him. "You're not helping."

"Don't you have other things to be doing right now?" added Sheppard.

"Other than wondering who he was traveling with and if it's a threat? Not really."

"You're human."

All four adults turned at the boy's words, the lad looking both surprised he'd spoken and nervous now that he'd attracted their attention. It was a nervousness that was quickly turning into another panic attack.

"Shh, it's all right," said Carson gently hoping to prevent it. "We're not going to hurt you. You're safe here." He took a step toward the bed but stopped when the boy flinched away from him.

"Don't touch me!" he cried. "Don't touch me!"

"It's all right, I'm not going to touch you," soothed Carson but the boy just stared at him, hands clutching at the blanket as if it could protect him, frightened.

"What do you want with me?" he whispered.

"Nothing. Hey, it's all right," Elizabeth said as Carson exchanged glances with an equally bewildered Rodney and Sheppard. "We don't want anything from you. We just want to help." She crouched down on her heels so she wasn't looming. The boy followed her movement as if hypnotized. "We just want to help. Will you let us do that?"

"I want my necklace," the boy whispered. It took all of Carson's willpower not to reach out to him again. He was so alone and scared, though of what, Carson had no idea.

"All right lad, we'll get you your necklace," he said gently. He placed a hand on Elizabeth's shoulder to draw her away. Rodney and Sheppard followed and the boy's eyes never left them, burning a hole through their backs. "I think you should leave now. He needs to rest and he can't do that panicking all over the place."

"Do you know what set him off?" asked Elizabeth in concern.

"Your guess is as good as mine at this point," Carson sighed. "He's only woken twice."

"He seemed surprised we were human," offered Sheppard.

"Which makes absolutely no sense since what else would we be, circus monkeys? Trained dogs to run around in circle sniffing our nether regions? Although I wouldn't be surprised if he mistook Sheppard here for a wookie," said Rodney.

"Who you callin' 'scruffy looking'," the Colonel shot back.

Rodney gave him a sideways look with just a hint of a smile. "Fine, nerfherder."

"You know you just don't have the legs to pull off the Princess – "

"Gentlemen," Elizabeth cut in before they could continue. "We don't want to hear it."

"Funny you should mention that Colonel," said Carson. At the three's sudden attention he went on. "Seems our wee lad here isn't what you or I would call completely human."

Elizabeth raised an eyebrow at that. "Not completely human?"

Carson shrugged a bit helplessly. He was still going over the scans from the Ancient's equivalent of an x-ray machine from before and after surgery. At first he'd wondered if the changes were because he was a child, and organ sizes in a growing body were sometimes difficult to judge. Then other things showed up like extra nerves, the warped shape of his liver, and the oddities in his DNA, including a few sequences that were nothing human and nothing that Carson for the life of him could identify. "I'm still looking into it, but there are definite deviations in his physiology and DNA."

"Like Teyla?" asked the Colonel, his eyebrows drawn together in concern.

"It's not Wraith," Carson shook his head. "It was the first thing I checked. I don't know what it is. Whatever genetic modification went on he was either born with or it happened very young. As far as I can tell, outside his injuries, he's a healthy, mostly human child." He looked over his shoulder at the boy who was still watching them with wide, scared eyes.

"Do you think he knows?" asked Elizabeth following his gaze.

"I don't know," Carson sighed. "If he did, I doubt he'd tell us. At this rate, earning his trust is gonna take a while. He won't let anyone near him without a fight."

"I'll talk to Dr. Heightmeyer," said Elizabeth.

"I'd appreciate it."

"Meanwhile, see what you can find out."

"Maybe we should bring Jinto over from the mainland," suggested Sheppard. "Give him a face his own age."

"Aye. And I want to give him his necklace as soon as I can." He looked at Rodney who nodded.

"Yes, yes, I'm sure it's probably safe. Hope so anyway."

"Good luck, Carson," said Elizabeth as they turned to leave. Carson nodded, knowing he'd need it.

* * *

The humans left quietly. Only Carson came back to tell him to try and sleep before going to another part of the room. He was obviously the healer or diagnosian or whatever they were called here. Regardless, D'argo was grateful for the space to think. He could still feel the muted pain in his chest that receded as his body finally relaxed. At the moment he wanted nothing more to curl around the pain that was more than physical in his chest. He was kidnapped and alone and his parents couldn't find him. He just wanted Mom and Dad. He wanted to be safe with them at home.

It was the tears that brought him back to himself. No, he couldn't cry. That would be showing enemies a weakness, and Mom had drilled him that if he was ever caught he had to be strong. Dad said the first thing he should do was not panic. D'argo wiped his eyes and reflected that he hadn't done such a great job at not panicking. He was just so scared. He didn't know what was going on. That's what he had to do next, figure out what was going on and giving away as little as possible while he did. Mom always said watching and being silent was good, and D'argo knew it worked from spying on their passengers on Moya. Even when they knew he was there, they sometimes forgot and said things they wouldn't if it had been Mom or Dad or Chiana. Maybe not Chiana.

So what did he know? D'argo looked around the room he was in. It was gray-blue and all hard angles and weird panels. He didn't recognize any of it, and it didn't look like anything that he'd seen on Dad's tv from Earth. But he did know they were human. The armed man had Dad's name and Dad's flag on his arm. And everyone was speaking English; even D'argo had switched to it automatically. It had taken a minute for him to realize which made him fell stupid now because it was so obvious.

Only it didn't fit with what his parents had told him of Earth. They said they couldn't go because humans were still afraid of aliens and might hurt them. These humans had found him with the Pathfinder and hadn't seemed too freaked out by it. D'argo couldn't be sure though because he'd never been kidnapped by a non sebacean only to get rescued by humans before. He'd never been kidnapped before at all. And he still didn't know for sure if they'd really rescued him or not either. They were probably lying so he'd trust them, but D'argo wasn't going to fall for that. He'd do what Dad would do . . . or maybe Mom since Dad tended to piss people off, and D'argo didn't want to do that, especially since they had guns that they carried around.

The man with Dad's name and flag made him nervous. He was a soldier and you never knew what they would do right away, especially if they wanted answers to questions. For now, D'argo wasn't going to trust anyone and he wasn't going to panic. All he had to do was get his necklace back. But even if he didn't, Mom and Dad could still get close enough to find him. Pilot and Moya would help and so would Chiana and Grandma. They would find him. D'argo knew they were already searching.

* * *


	2. Two

* * *

Two

* * *

"You're not going to believe this," Rodney burst into Elizabeth's office waving a wrapped package that was presumably the necklace he'd been examining for the last half an hour. Both Kate Heightmeyer and Colonel Sheppard turned in their seats as Elizabeth gave him a questioning look. "It's a beacon."

"Wraith?" asked Sheppard standing and taking the bulky package from Rodney's hands.

"Ah, don't open that. The lead's the only thing that's stopping it from broadcasting our delicious selves to whoever made it. And no, I don't think it's wraith. It doesn't match any of the wraith signals we've encountered and the design is nothing like Teyla's necklace. And it's only the brown medallion. The ingenious thing is we can tell it's transmitting but the frequency keeps changing randomly."

"Meaning?"

"That for this to be an effective beacon you have to have a very specific receiver that's on the same random frequency pattern to pinpoint this necklace. Otherwise it looks like random space noise."

Silence greeted his pronouncement. Finally Sheppard said, "So you're saying . . ."

"That whoever is looking for this signal doesn't want anyone else to find it. It's kind of like an encrypted signal only here it's the signal itself and not its contents that are encrypted. So to speak. It's quite a clever idea actually. Anyway, the lead blocks it so we should be safe from whoever is after this kid assuming, of course, that they haven't already tracked him down. Hopefully traveling through the stargate has put them in a completely different region of space, but since that didn't stop the wraith," he finished with a shrug that said 'better safe than sorry.'

"So now the question is who is after him and why?" said Elizabeth.

"And what's the deal with that alien?" added the Colonel.

"There's a second piece that's giving off a small EM field that almost looks like a computer chip but we haven't been able to access it yet," said Rodney. They hadn't been able to separate either medallion from the chain so both were wrapped in the lead. "It might have more answers. Only problem is it's attached to the beacon."

"Well try," said Elizabeth. "We need to know what might be coming after us."

"I think we should ask the boy," said Kate. "He'll probably know or at least have an idea."

"Doc, the kid won't even let Beckett touch him," pointed out Sheppard. "He doesn't trust us at all and certainly not enough to tell us what's after him."

"Even so, he's the only one with any answers."

* * *

Talking to the boy turned out to be harder than even Dr. Beckett had expected. Dr. Heightmeyer insisted that they ask the boy first if they could speak with him and when he refused, to respect his wishes.

"This is ridiculous!" McKay had complained in the hallway outside of the infirmary with Sheppard ensuring that he walked away.

"We need to give him some control over what happens to him," had been Kate's reply.

The second time Carson had broached the subject a few hours later, Elizabeth told him to say it was about the necklace. Watching from the doorway, she saw the boy's eyes dart to her so she smiled, but he looked away again. He said something to Carson who still stood well back from his bed. The doctor turned and said, "Just you, Elizabeth," and then came over to shoo the others out.

Elizabeth approached slowly, the boy watching her every move like a hawk. "Hi there," she said quietly when she was close enough to the bed. "Do you mind if I sit down?" she gestured toward the chair Carson had left there. The boy shook his head so she pulled it out and sat down.

"Carson tells me you don't want to tell us your name. Is there something else I can call you?" she asked, bracing for the panic that didn't come.

The boy was considering it, and eventually he said, "You can call me Dee."

Elizabeth smiled, pleased they'd made even this small progress. "Nice to meet you Dee. How are you feeling?"

"Fine."

Right. "Good. I'm glad to hear it." She smiled and got to the point. "Carson told you I wanted to speak with you about your necklace?"

"Can I have it back?" asked Dee hopefully.

"Well, we were looking at your necklace and we noticed something odd about it. It's sending out a signal broadcasting its position into space."

"Yeah?" Dee's voice squeaked a little bit and his eyes got wider.

"Yeah," Elizabeth confirmed. "Whoever gave it to you is tracing you. Do you understand? We've stopped the signal for the moment, but – "

"What!" Dee tried to sit up, and Elizabeth reached out to push him back before he hurt himself which was a mistake because he immediately pulled away. "Don't touch me!"

"Dee, calm down," Elizabeth forced herself back. The small movement had caused Dee to grimace and take a few shaky breaths. "I'm not going to touch you, okay? You have nothing to be afraid of. I just want to help."

"Then give me my necklace back. Please, you have to," Dee begged.

"Who's after you, Dee? I can't give you your necklace back unless I know it's safe. I won't put you in danger," Elizabeth told him. Dee stared at her scared and uncertain.

"Am I your prisoner?" he broke the tense silence.

"No. Not at all. We want to help you," Elizabeth repeated, hoping this time he'd believe it.

"Where am I, what planet?"

"We're in the city of Atlantis. The City of the Ancestors." She wondered where these questions were going and why he thought he was a prisoner.

"And I'm not your prisoner?" he asked again.

"No, Dee, you're not."

He stared at her still unsure and untrusting. "It's so my parents can find me," he finally said.

"Your parents?" said Elizabeth surprised.

"Yeah, and if you touch me or hurt me, they'll kill you. They're already looking for me so they're probably already know where I am. You can't stop them from coming," Dee glared at her, and for the first time Elizabeth saw the spark of who this kid really was in that defiant gaze. "So give me my necklace back," he demanded.

"What about the alien you were with?" If his parents had given him the beacon, then they had access to some advanced technology, which didn't make sense for humans in Pegasus.

"What about her?" The defiant glare was replaced by nervousness. "What did she tell you?"

"She didn't tell us anything. She didn't survive the crash," said Elizabeth gently but was surprised when Dee let out a relieved 'good.'

"What happened Dee?" she asked, but he refused to answer, looking away.

"If I'm really not a prisoner, you would give me my necklace," he said, a glimmer of challenge in his eye returning when he looked up. "They'll find me anyway. Hiding me will only piss them off. Everyone knows better than to piss them off."

"Really?" Elizabeth arched an eyebrow at the implied threat. "Then I guess we better not piss them off," she smiled at him hoping to reassure him yet again that they really didn't mean him any harm. He obviously wasn't going to tell her anything about the other alien, but judging from his reaction, he hadn't been with her by choice. Getting Dee back to his parents was what was important right now. "Rodney," she keyed her radio. When she got an answering grunt from the scientist, she said, "could you bring in the necklace, please?" Rodney was silent for a beat before saying he was on his way.

A minute later he appeared with Sheppard, both men stopping by the door waiting to be invited over. Elizabeth asked Dee, "Is it all right if they come over?"

Dee looked surprised that she was even asking him. "Just Rodney," he said quietly. "Not . . . not the one with the gun."

"I could have him take it off if it would make you feel safer," Elizabeth offered, surprised that after their earlier meeting that it was John that he didn't like. Children usually loved the Colonel. Judging from the look Dee was giving her, she was missing something obvious about why John Sheppard should never be allowed within a stone's throw of him. "Just Rodney then," she agreed and called the scientist over. He brought the lead wrapped necklace and handed it to her when she held out her hand.

"Rodney, I'd like you to meet Dee," she said. "Dee this is Rodney, our chief scientist on Atlantis."

Rodney waved his hand impatiently. "So, you found out something about the beacon?"

"Yes. Dee tells me it's a homing beacon so his parents can find him," said Elizabeth, unwrapping the necklace and handing it over. Dee snatched it up with his clear relief only marred when he saw that the chain had been cut. He didn't say anything however, choosing instead to clench both medallions tightly in his hands as if he were praying.

"A homing beacon for children. That's better than putting a leash on them," said Rodney. "What's the other medallion?" he asked Dee, continuing before the boy could answer. "It looks like a computer chip but it's not like any technology I've ever seen before. It's different from the brown piece – bit odd unless your people regularly cannibalize other technology. Our systems couldn't do anything with it. We even tried the Ancient computers . . ." he trailed off when he noticed Dee staring at him. "What? We were curious about what it was. I'm not going to deny that. You weren't talking to us and we had to get information about that beacon somehow."

Elizabeth sighed and wished Rodney would just be quiet for once in his life. She was about to tell him as much, when she got another surprise. Dee smiled. It was small and hesitant, but bright and enough to shut Rodney up. Dee opened his hand and picked up the small green medallion so it was flat between his thumb and forefinger. Then he squeezed. Immediately, an image sprang up out of the thin edge and formed a hologram in the air. It was a picture of Dee a little younger than he was now with green alien script in short lines to the right. In the bottom right, there was a small seal with the face of another alien creature encircled by more writing in a different looking script.

"It's my Hynerian citizenship identification," said Dee.

"How did you do that?" Rodney was practically itching to grab the chip out of Dee's hand. "We tried everything. I've been handling it every which-way for the past hour."

"I thought – "

"In containment, obviously," Rodney cut her off before Elizabeth could finish her question. "Nothing worked."

"Of course you couldn't do it," said Dee with a touch of exasperation. Elizabeth grinned. It seemed they had just made more progress.

"What, is there a secret handshake I don't know? A decoder ring I need that I'm not wearing, because – " Rodney stopped, his sarcastic sneer blinked away to realization as he looked from the chip to Dee's face and back again. "Because I'm not, am I? Of course, now that I know what it is it makes perfect sense."

"What?" Elizabeth was still a block behind.

"It's activated by his DNA," said Rodney quickly. "This is – Elizabeth, do you realize the level of technology – where's your world?" he interrupted himself again to ask Dee.

"Far away," said Dee. His face had lost its smile and the wariness was back.

"Do you know the address?"

"What's an address?"

"On the stargate, what are the symbols for your world?"

"What's a stargate?" Dee seemed almost afraid to ask.

"Rodney, I think that's enough," Elizabeth interrupted. "You're scaring him."

"Look, I'm not going to hurt you," said Rodney impatiently. "Just don't cry okay. I can't handle it if you cry." He took a deep breath to calm himself down and twisted out a smile.

"I won't cry," said Dee slowly, his gaze sliding to Elizabeth who held up a hand to forestall the speech Rodney was about dying to give her. "I want to go to sleep," Dee said.

Elizabeth nodded and caught herself before she reached to give him a reassuring squeeze on the shoulder since Dee would find it anything but. Rodney was already talking about the implications of a thriving civilization under the Wraith.

* * *

Earlier and Elsewhere

* * *

"Aeryn!" John slid to knees with Winona dropping from his hand as he reached her prone form. Zhaanah lay beside her with her arm trapped under Aeryn's leg. Anxiously, John ran his hands over her head, moving quickly down her sides checking for any injuries, repeating the process on his wife when nothing was apparent. "Aeryn, come on, baby, wake up!" 

Getting no response, John looked around the warehouse again, this time seeing more than his wife and daughter unconscious on the floor. Crates had been blown backwards; two of them had splintered from the concussive force that had rocked this section of town. Down the aisle he could see the short, hairy proprietor, also unconscious, and Aeryn's pulse pistol. D'argo was nowhere to be seen.

"D!" he called picking up Winona. He should have been there with Aeryn and Zhaanah. John felt the panic that had engulfed him when Aeryn hadn't answer the comms return threefold and he searched frantically though the warehouse. D'argo was not down here, he turned a corner and he wasn't there either – John kept turning corners and not finding his son. "D!" he shouted. "D'argo!"

"John?" Aeryn's faint voice came from the other side of the warehouse. John ran back through the maze of crates to her side. She was sitting up and cradling Zhaanah in her arms by the time he got there.

"I can't find D," he said without preamble as he knelt beside them. "What happened?"

"Pathfinders," said Aeryn. She leaned sideways against him with a grimace of pain and shifted Zhaanah toward him. "Pilot" she called. John took his unconscious daughter and settled her on his hip to free up an arm to help Aeryn to her feet, all while trying to remember who the Pathfinders were and what they had done to piss them off.

"Yes, Aeryn?" said Pilot over the comm.

"Pilot, I need you to trace D'argo."

"D'argo? What happened?" asked Pilot with the same touch of panic that John felt.

"He's been kidnapped," Aeryn looked at John with a mixture of terror and determination. "She grabbed him and I tried . . . She had him by the throat . . ."

John pulled her close, as much for his own comfort as hers. He still couldn't remember the Pathfinders, but he did remember the last time someone had tried to take Lil D from them. His wish to never go through that again had just been blasted to pieces.

And then Pilot was speaking again, the worry in his voice upped a notch as he told them that D'argo's signal was flying away from the planet with a head start that they would be hard pressed to catch up to. By the time he finished, John and Aeryn were already running for the pod.

* * *

Aeryn's fighter was faster than the Pathfinder shuttle. She was gaining on it, she felt it, even as she willed her small craft to go that much faster. She had to catch up and she was going to because D'argo was on that ship. As soon as they had returned to Moya, Aeryn had switched ships and left again. John had only nodded to her as he'd passed Zhaanah off to Norianti and started yelling for Pilot.

He was behind her right now in another of the small ships they were rebuilding, an old cargo hauler they had found in a garbage orbit. It was space worthy with new dual engines that could trail her, but only just. It still needed a lot of work on the hull casing, not to mention automated systems, but they would get to that after they got D'argo back. That's what they did now, rebuild wrecks of ships and raise their children, and Aeryn was damned if some frelling Pathfinder was going to take her son away from her.

She remembered the Pathfinders. Their ship had spun out of the wormhole John had been studying, merging with Moya and pulling them all into the wall of the wormhole itself. They'd tried to kill Moya, tried to kill the rest of them when they wouldn't back down, and when they were all dead at the end of the gunbattle, Zhaan had been the one to die when she manually separated their ships. Oh yes, Aeryn remembered the Pathfinders and didn't like them one bit.

The shuttle D'argo was in came into view as another point of light across the carpet of stars. She was gaining but it would still be another thousand microts before she would be on top of them. She only prayed that she had enough time. The shuttle wouldn't be far from its parent ship.

A few microts later she was proved right. A ship appeared on her radar out of nowhere. Ahead of her, Aeryn saw a blue light sparkle into existence.

"No," she whispered with growing horror. "No, no, no, no, no. No!" she screamed. "Faster, you frelling thing!" But her fighter was already at her max, and it wouldn't have done her any good anyway. The wormhole closed.

"Aeryn?" John's voice crackled over the comm. Aeryn fought the overwhelming surge of grief that hit her and struggled to keep the tears out of her voice.

"Did you see that?" she managed.

"Yeah, I did." John's voice was quiet. "I'm not picking up D'argo's signal anymore."

"Frell!" said Aeryn. "Frell, frell, frell!" She hit the navigation controls for good measure, burning on the inside. "John, can you – "

"Not here," he said his voice still deathly quiet. "We'll have to find one. The Uncharted Territories are our best bet."

And even they were weekens away at best, days if they were lucky in starburst. Too long in either case, Aeryn thought sharply as she flipped the fighter around to follow John back to Moya.

* * *

D'argo ran for his life through a maze of unfamiliar streets. Buildings jumped into and out of his way confusing and twisting him around. No matter how fast he ran, the heavy footsteps behind him became steadily closer. D'argo didn't know who was after him, only that he couldn't get caught.

The buildings were tall and stacked houses that were sturdily built of wood and sheet metal. In the air, layers of cloth fluttered against the dark sky like awnings over a bazaar that wasn't there. The skies were silent even though ships and planes flew over head searching for him, and even though the streets were empty, D'argo felt the weight of a thousand eyes on his back.

He'd lost his knife and his parents might have been dead. His sister was screaming somewhere in the background, but he couldn't find her. His chest hurt from running but he couldn't stop or the footsteps that were already too close would get him. He dodged around a crashed ship that was flattened except for a single white door with a round window and darted into a side street. A stack of five identical houses landed right in front of him, forcing him left into the empty space. At the end of this ally, D'argo halted in his tracks confronted with five empty streets branching off of the closed hexagon. The houses here were stretched tall out of shape, reaching to the transport planes above. Zhaanah's screaming had stopped. The footsteps thundered louder and louder behind him.

Beginning to panic, D'argo looked wildly at each of the streets but they were all the same. His chest hurt so much, he couldn't breathe, and the footsteps were getting closer and closer. He couldn't breathe, and it hurt, and the footsteps were on top of him and he couldn't move, couldn't run, couldn't get away, only hurt, his chest hurt, and the footsteps were there, right there, right behind him –

And D'argo woke up.

Sweat prickled his body and his heart thrummed in his ears and frell, his chest hurt with a blind, crushing pain. It hurt to breathe deeply so he ended up panting as he tried to throw off the lost and helpless feeling of his dream. The room was dimly lit with shadows in the corners that could have easily hid the footsteps. D'argo closed his eyes and told himself to stop.

There was nothing in the shadows. There were no footsteps after him. Zhaanah was fine and safe with Mom and Dad who were not dead, but out there looking for him. Right now. This microt. They were looking and they would find him just like they had when the conscriptors had grabbed him in the town from his dream.

The actual town had been the port city of a planet in Peacekeeper protected territory. There were thousands of sebacean settlers there, farmers and merchants whose children were eligible for conscription. They'd been shopping there for sebacean medicines and anyone who wanted passage to Hynerian space when the Peacekeepers had come to the market. D'argo had been picked up and processed as far as the medical scans and a surprised medtech before Mom and Dad had come and rescued him. They had run for the transport pod with a squadron on their tails after leaving two dead bodies and a trashed medical diagnostic. It was the first time he'd seen his parents kill anyone. He'd been seven at the time.

The pain in his chest didn't let D'argo dwell on any more memories or his nightmare. Trying not to think about it wasn't working. In fact, it just made it the only thing he could think about. He was startled then a while later when a woman came up to his bed.

"Hey there. You're awake," she said softly. She wore the same uniform as the rest of the people in this place and smiled like they did too. "How are you feeling?" she asked.

D'argo shook his head. It would be too much trouble to speak. Oddly, the woman seemed to understand. She asked if his chest hurt and put something in the hose connected to his arm that made the pain go away. D'argo barely felt her hand brush his forehead as he drifted back into troubled dreams.

* * *

When he woke again later, the lights were up and D'argo could hear more people bustling about beyond the curtains. He hadn't dreamed again but there were still shadows of his first nightmare in the corners of the room. He barely had time to dwell on them however before the woman from the night before came through those same curtains with a smile that D'argo had a hard time figuring out.

"Good morning," she said as she came over. D'argo tensed automatically only relaxing when she stopped short of touching him and fiddled with the bags hooked up to his arm. She started to talk then about meaningless stuff like how much better he looked today and how breakfast would be along soon. D'argo watched her write on her pad and fiddle some more with what was going into him. He wanted to ask but was afraid of saying anything. She left him a few minutes later with another friendly smile and a pat so quick to his shoulder that D'argo didn't have time to jerk away.

"Looks like breakfast is here," she nodded to a man that arrived with a tray.

D'argo was still staring at the tray of unfamiliar food an arn later when Carson returned. The healer blinked and said, "I see you're not a fan of our cafeteria food either, but you really should eat."

Unsure whether to take this a threat, a warning, or some hidden attempt to slip him more drugs, D'argo continued to stare stubbornly at the tray. "Not hungry," he said. And he really wasn't; his stomach was too busy trying to tie itself into knots. Rattlers slithering.

"Ah well, we'll see how you feel at lunch then," said Carson. "Now, I need to take a look at you to make sure you're healing properly. That all right?"

D'argo looked up. "Do I have a choice?"

"'Fraid not, lad," said Carson with a terse smile. "But I don't want you to be afraid of me. I'm not goin' to hurt you and I'll tell you everything I do before I do it. Does that sound fair?"

"How do I know you're not lying?" asked D'argo thinking that nothing was fair at all at the moment.

"You're just going to have to trust me. Can you do that so I can examine you?" Carson smiled again sending another rush of fear through D'argo. He wanted to trust Carson. He was a healer, he looked nice, he looked like he really just wanted to help. But D'argo was afraid to because in his experience smiling strangers were the last people you wanted to trust. Sweet and harmless was the oldest trick in the book.

So D'argo didn't say anything and just stared at Carson. The healer took it as a sign of acceptance because he slowly stepped forward until he was beside D'argo's bed.

"I thought you were going to tell me what you were going to do," D'argo whispered.

"From now on I will, I promise," said Carson. "I'm going to start by moving your tray. Is that all right? Is that all right?" he repeated when D'argo didn't say anything and he waited until D'argo nodded jerkily, more confused now than ever. It went on like that: Carson told him what he wanted to do and asked his permission. D'argo said 'no' to the bright light he wanted to shine in his eyes, and Carson put it aside and said, "No light then."

After that D'argo got a little braver and told Carson not to touch his chest where the incisions were. "I'm just gonna listen to your heart," said the healer. "It's perfectly safe. You can listen for yourself, if you want." The instrument didn't look dangerous but D'argo said 'no' anyway. Just to see what happened.

Carson sighed and said, "We'll come back to it later." And when they did at the end, D'argo let him listen to his heart.

* * *

There were two more visitors that day. The first was a woman named Kate who said she was a psychiatrist and wanted to tell D'argo about where he was and answer any questions that he may have. From her he learned that the woman Elizabeth was in charge and that he still wasn't technically a prisoner. He also learned that the people here were scientists and soldiers though when he asked what they studied, she just smiled and said everything from physics to botany. D'argo didn't know what botany was and he only had a vague idea by what she meant by physics, but he did know that places that studied things with soldiers probably did it so the soldiers could be better at what they did. It made D'argo a little more nervous and he really wished that Kate would stop smiling like she was his best friend.

"I know it's overwhelming," she noticed his discomfort. "And you're all alone away from your parents and your people, but we're not going to harm you." D'argo swallowed hard but refused to say anything because he _was_ alone and surrounded by humans. Dad might have been human but he'd left Earth because they couldn't handle aliens. He had seen the television before it had got all shot up. Kate finally left with more soft words and smiles.

His second visitor came just after D'argo had been brought lunch. He still didn't recognize any of the food, didn't know if it was compatible with him, or drugged or what it tasted like. He was hungry but didn't want to eat it.

Rodney came in while he was poking some jiggling brown stuff that wasn't quite solid. The man stopped just inside the curtain and stood stiffly with his head up and chin jutted out like he couldn't decide whether to stand at attention or yell. "So. . . " he said. "How are you feeling?" He was anything but comfortable.

D'argo remained silent not sure what to say to the first person who wasn't smiling at him.

"Right. Stupid question," Rodney shifted on his feet, losing some of the stiffness. "You're probably somewhere between excruciating pain and happyland from all the drugs, and are you just going to stare at me like that? I'm trying to be nice."

"Why?" the comment surprised D'argo into asking.

"Because Carson said to, and since I actually care about staying on his good side at the moment, I decided to humor him." Rodney stuck his chin out as if to challenge D'argo to contradict him. D'argo couldn't help but be a little bit relieved that Rodney was weird and making some kind of sense.

Just to see what happened, he asked, "did you want something?" at which Rodney actually relaxed even more, crossed his arms, and looked surprised himself.

"Actually yes," he said. "I want to borrow your necklace."

A shot of fear ran through D'argo. "What for?"

"I want to know what kind of technology it uses. It appears simple so I'm sure I'll have it back to you in a few hours."

"An 'hour' is time?"

"Yes, meaning in this case before you go to sleep tonight. Tomorrow at the latest," said Rodney. "Well?"

"What do I get?" D'argo asked.

"Get? Nothing. I'm getting. I'm borrowing the neclakce," Rodney's eyebrows frowned.

Feeling like he was on the familiar territory of school trades on Hyneria or the bartering on commerce planets, D'argo said, "then no. You can't borrow my necklace."

"What? You want my firstborn child?" Rodney perked up sarcastically.

"You don't get it for free," D'argo retorted. "Especially if you're borrowing it."

"That's what borrowing means, you idiot. I'm sure even your pin-sized brain can understand that. I told you I'd give it back."

"Yeah, right, like I haven't heard that before," D'argo rolled his eyes. He wasn't stupid.

"Listen, you little punk, I'm not stealing your necklace. I just want to look at it," Rodney snapped with a glare to match.

"Then you're gonna have to look at it from there," said D'argo. "Unless you got something to trade."

"What do I have that you could possibly want?"

"Something you like?"

"Right, so you can break it or cause me some crisis that I'll have to clean up after you," Rodney said. "I'm not that stupid."

"Oi!" the healer's accented voice cut across their raised voices as he entered D'argo's part of the room. "What's this? Rodney, I told you not to scare the lad!"

"Me!" Rodney turned his glare on Carson who ignored it in favor of smiling that nice creepy smile at D'argo.

"Don't mind him, he's nothing to be afraid of," he said reassuringly.

"Oh right, take the side of the extortionist just because he's cute and injured," Rodney crossed his arms angrily across his chest.

"Rodney, I think you'd better leave," said Carson. "And you need to eat, lad," he admonished D'argo. "You'll not heal on an empty stomach."

The tray was still on his lap, as mysterious as before. Carson told Rodney to leave again that only set the other off again about stupid kids and important work which gave D'argo an idea. "Hey," he said to get their attention. Both men abruptly shut up, Carson in surprise and Rodney with irritation.

"What!" he snapped.

"I'll trade you time with my necklace for tasting my food," said D'argo which led to more spluttering by Carson and after a few blinks a sharp nod from Rodney.

"Done," he said coming over. "Though why you're asking me to eat your food . . ." he muttered almost too quietly to be heard.

D'argo didn't say anything though he was sorely tempted to tell him it was because Rygel always said to never trust what strangers gave you to eat, and he'd gone through as many food tasters as D'argo was old.

Carson protested but Rodney brushed him away as he approached the bed saying, "Oh, go stick someone else, we're busy. So do you have any allergies? Anything I should look out for?" he asked D'argo though he didn't wait for an answer as he started criticizing the food and telling him what it tasted like in terms that didn't help D'argo out at all. D'argo watched what he ate, what he liked, what he nearly spit out, and noticed that nothing seemed harmful.

"Oh, pudding!" sighed Rodney to the brown stuff. "You're not going to like that," he shot D'argo a hopeful look as he scooped up half of it in one bite. "It's disgusting, terrible, why don't I just eat the rest for you," he said in a tone that belied his words. But D'argo hesitated just a moment too long since semi-solid things usually didn't taste as good as Rodney thought, and by the time he'd decided to maybe try it, Rodney was already putting down the empty bowl.

"So, the necklace?" the man asked.

Now that it was time to part with it, however temporarily, D'argo didn't want to. He'd tied the ends of the chain around his wrist and now reflexively rubbed his other hand over the familiar comm. "You . . . you won't block the signal?" he asked meeting Rodney's eyes that had settled out of sarcasm into something more serious. A host of 'what ifs' ran through his head about why this was really stupid, but now he could eat and Rodney didn't smile at him or make him feel like he was watching politics in Rygel's court.

"No. I just want to look at the other piece."

"And you'll give it back before I go to sleep?"

"Yes."

And since a deal was a deal, D'argo took a deep breath and untied the chain. He wanted to glare or threaten Rodney like Mom or Dad might about keeping faith, but he was just too little and suddenly feeling all alone again. He passed over the necklace.

"Thank you," said Rodney. "I'll take good care of it."

D'argo's heart was pounding as he watched the man leave. He felt like he'd just jumped out of an airlock without a tether.

* * *

The third visitor of the day came to see Carson and not D'argo. It was Elizabeth and she arrived just after his empty lunch tray had been taken away. She smiled at him from across the room but went to see Carson who was fiddling in the back. D'argo couldn't see them but he could hear their voices as they greeted one another and Elizabeth asked for an update. Carson said a lot of things he didn't understand but that D'argo gathered were about him. Then Elizabeth asked, "Any luck with the genetic modifications?"

"No," said Carson. "I need to run another scan and a few blood tests, but I want to wait until the lad's a bit more comfortable." At his words, D'argo's heart froze. He didn't hear what Elizabeth said after that or notice really when she left. They knew. He couldn't breathe and knowing that they knew made him clutch desperately for the necklace that wasn't there. "Okay," he muttered to himself in an effort to calm down. "Okay, okay, okay, okay, okay," he said while his brain shorted on what to do and instead fed him ideas about vivisection and slave traders. The one thing D'argo knew with certainty was that he had to get the frell out of Dodge.

* * *

AN: Someone asked about updates. My writing speed for this story is probably going to be updates every 2-4 weeks depending on RL. Obviously this could be longer. Thanks to everyone who has reviewed. Hope all you guys reading are enjoying this so far.

* * *


	3. Three

For a Pocketful

* * *

Three

* * *

"All right everybody, listen up," Sheppard addressed the three teams assembled in the Control room and the marines on security detail over the radio. "The boy we brought back from Esease has run off. We're trying to locate him with the city sensors but he is still within the populated perimeter. He is injured with broken ribs and is very shy so when you find him, do not approach. Corner him if you can, follow him if you can't, and call it in. Beckett and a med team will come to you. Standard search patterns. Questions?" No one spoke up. "Move out."

John waited for the chorus of "yes, sir" before taking the stairs two at a time for a last word with Rodney and Elizabeth. "The security teams are going to spiral in from the perimeter," he said. "My teams are going to move out from the infirmary."

"Good," said Elizabeth. "I'll inform the rest of the expedition and see if I can talk Dee into coming back to us."

"Tell everyone to stay put, while you're at it," added Rodney, eyes glued to the schematic of the city and the hundreds of dots of life practically on top of each other. "There are too many people to see anything from here."

Sheppard grimaced. "We should have better luck with the handhelds," he said. "Keep us up to date." He went back down the stairs and out the door with the soldier on his search team.

Elizabeth nodded to Corey at the communications console and addressed the city, but this time Rodney completely ignored the announcement. Instead he turned to Roberts who was with him on the sensors. "Okay, I need a programmer and an engineer who've worked on interfacing before. What's-his-name, uh, uh," he snapped his fingers, "Broden –"

"Brody?" said Roberts.

"That's the one," Rodney snapped, vaguely recognizing the name to go along with his picture of the short comp sci guy who never worked without speakers in his ears. "Get him up here and have Radek send someone competent from his department. And don't stand there staring at me. Get to it!"

Roberts had already turned to pass along the orders to Corey, but Rodney was irritated and shouting made him feel better. Not as good as doing something useful, but better than when Weir had interrupted his investigation of the kid's necklace – and really, why couldn't the brat wait until after Rodney had returned the damn thing so they could actually find him in less than, oh say, a year. His parents obviously knew what they were doing when they'd soldered the thing to his neck, though why they'd wanted a child in the first place, God only knew. This was a perfect example of why children were very bad ideas.

It took twenty minutes for the requested people to get to the control room and another hour for them to admit that no matter what they did, the sensors wouldn't differentiate anyone of a smaller body size, of poor health, or slightly mutated DNA. The Colonel and his men were having no better luck on the ground which was rather surprising since really, how far could a kid with broken ribs get? Fed up at the complete waste of his time, Rodney glared at Elizabeth when she came out of one her office to check on the progress.

"I'm going back to my work," said Rodney. "These three can handle the search."

"Oh?" Elizabeth turned to Brody.

"We're going to magnify every room, get a head count from the people in there, see where there's an extra life sign," explained the programmer who didn't sound too thrilled at the prospect himself which was understandable given that the infirmary section also contained the medical labs and the various disciplines that called themselves biology. All in all, about two hundred people to sort through, plus their critters.

"How long will it take?" asked Elizabeth.

"A few hours," Brody hazarded a guess.

"By which point the kid will probably come crawling out of the woodwork because he's hungry," said Rodney. "Except, of course, if he thinks we're going to poison him." He frowned as the thought coalesced wondering if it was fear and not unfamiliarity that had the kid swap his precious necklace for a taste tester. "You do realize he's paranoid, right?"

"That had crossed my mind," said Elizabeth dryly. "It doesn't change the fact that we need to find him as quickly as possible."

"We're doing the best we can, Doctor Weir," said Zelenka's engineer. "We'll find him by dinner."

"I'll leave you to it," she said. Rodney scowled as she went back to her office.

"Let me know when you find anything," he said then left for the labs.

* * *

The longer the search went on the more nervous John got. He couldn't stop thinking of the time Jinto had gotten lost in Atlantis and the Energy Creature of Monstrous Electricity and Death that had gotten loose. Every door he opened that wasn't in active use by the biologists made him nervous with memories of the contaminated labs with the deadly nanovirus. Atlantis, despite being wonderful and all around cool, was not the safest place after ten thousand years at the bottom of the ocean. John remembered how the boy had looked getting cut out of his ship and hoped they found him before fate caught up with him.

So far the life signs detector hadn't turned up anyone who wasn't supposed to be there and neither had the wider search on the sensors from the control room, but that was mostly due to the large number of people who worked in this section of the city. Knowing that didn't make it any less frustrating, however, and John was frustrated and wondering why the hell the boy had run off in the first place. Beckett hadn't known; he'd gone to check on the kid after lunch and found only a ripped out IV and an empty tray. The blanket, fork, and spoon were gone and no one had heard a sound. When John had asked if there were any special powers related to the not-quite-human Dee they should know about, Beckett had glared at him.

When the first door refused to open two hours into the search, John wondered if he wasn't wrong. He looked at Corporal Meyer with a frown that was returned before trying the door again with a loud mental open for good measure. The door did nothing. Then John noticed that the lights around the door weren't even on. He checked the life signs detector in his hand but got nothing on the other side.

"Corey, this is Sheppard," John hit his radio. "We have a door that's not opening on hall nine. What's the layout behind it?"

"One sec," said Corey. "I think we've located you. Can one of you move toward the door?" Meyers did so and Corey confirmed that he knew where they were. "It's the ground floor of the tower above you," he told them. "We don't have any labs there. Give me a sec . . . there! We've got him. One life sign on its own two floors up from your position."

"Great!" Sheppard grinned at Meyers who smiled back in relief. "I hope you have another door for us to get in through."

"Keep going down hall nine, take a left at the third intersection then go two more doors down on the left."

"Thanks," said John. "Let Weir and Beckett know we found him and get the word out to the rest of the search teams." He and Meyers headed off down the hall, hung a left and went down two more doors to the lobby entrance. This door slid open, happy as can be.

"There, and we're in," John grinned. "Let's make sure there are no surprises here, and then we'll go upstairs. While they were sweeping the first floor, the other two teams who'd started at the infirmary joined them.

"Sir," Meyers called John's attention to the inside of the door that hadn't opened. The control panel cover had been pulled off and there wasn't a single crystal in sight. Even the baseboard had been banged at, though the damage there looked fixable to John's admittedly non practiced eye. Zelenka and McKay would have a fit.

Behind him John heard a low impressed whistle and Sergeant Branner say softly, "a ten-year-old with a fork did that?"

"Clever kid to figure that out," said Meyers.

"Clever kid trying to keep us out," said John. "Is this level secure?"

"Yes, sir," said Lt. Conley. "Nothing here but empty offices."

"All right, let's go see what's upstairs."

They did a quick sweep of the second floor finding more of what they'd found below before heading to the third floor where John fixed Dee on the life signs detector, third room on the second hallway on the right. The third room whose door wouldn't open, much like the one downstairs.

"Well, crap," said John. He hit his radio. "Corey, is there another way in?"

"Sorry, Colonel," said the Doctor. "Not even a window. I'm sending a couple people to help."

"I'm starting to really not like this kid," said Meyers as the six soldiers settled in to wait for the engineers.

"How would you feel if you woke up injured a million miles from home?" retorted Conley. "Give him a break."

"Can't we lure him out with, like, candy or something, sir?" asked Branner. "That always got my brothers out of hiding."

"It'd only work if he knew it were candy," said John with a sigh. "Besides, I doubt anyone would be willing to give up their secret stashes for the cause."

Ten minutes later when the conversation had progressed to the informal trading network and the best way to get a Twix from Dr. Ramiro, Zelenka and two of his people showed up.

"This shouldn't take long, Colonel," Zelenka said by way of greeting. "If it's like the door below then he has disconnected the controls from the door completely. He was clever." Zelenka lifted off the control panel to the right of the door as if it hadn't been attached at all. "And here he was clever too," he pointed to the space that was empty of crystals.

"So he . . ."

"Opened door, removed crystals here, then passed through and closed the door with the other control and removed crystals from there. Very clever and very thorough," Zelenka grinned a bit. "Unfortunately for him, we have spare parts."

True to his word, it took Zelenka and his people about twenty minutes and a couple false starts to get the door open. It didn't quite make it all the way because of something about a feedback loop, but it was enough to get John and Meyers through the door. Not wanting to overwhelm the kid, John had the others wait outside and get Beckett here ASAP.

Only the kid wasn't in the room. The lights went on as soon as John entered, illuminating a sparse office-like space that only held tables and chairs. John looked back at the life signs detector where there was indeed a life sign next to the left-hand wall only . . . in real life? No kid.

"Sir?" said Meyers hesitantly as he scanned the room slowly.

"Dee?" called John. "I know you're in here. Somewhere." Unless the Ancient detector was finally running out of juice.

Nothing. There was no reply, no sound, nada.

"Conley, where does your life signs detector put him?"

"By the left wall. Everything okay, sir?"

"I think Beckett lied about the superpowers," said John as he crossed to where Dee should have been. He looked up but the ceiling was high and empty. Then he noticed that the two life dots didn't quite match up. John put his ear to the wall and listened and . . . maybe he heard . . .

"Dee, I know you're there," he said quietly. "I need you to come out now."

"Sir, he's moving!" called Conley but John felt it and was already watching the little dot slide along the wall and into the next room. "He went through the wall!" exclaimed the Lieutenant.

"No," said John. "He's in the wall."

* * *

When Elizabeth arrived, she could hear the pounding of metal coming from the walls. There was a crowd of marines with John, a handful of science personnel, and Carson with a med team and gurney all peering up at a ventilation grate where one of the science people, standing on a table, had stuck his head.

"Colonel?" Elizabeth came to a stop by John.

"He just figured out we sealed off his exits," he informed her. "Radek's going in for first contact."

"Ow!" followed by a string of Czech curses and Radek's hasty retreat from the grate. "Little monster threw crystals at me!"

"He hasn't been very responsive to us," said John, ever the soul of understatement. "I've tried, Beckett's tried, Zelenka only agreed as a last resort. He won't say anything."

Elizabeth nodded then tried herself. "Dee?" she called. "It's Elizabeth. Are you all right?"

"I'm not coming out! You stay away from me!" his voice was thin and reedy, trying to hide fear behind defiance.

"Well, that's new," Sheppard grinned at her.

Elizabeth smiled a bit. "Please, Dee. We can talk about this. We're not going to hurt you."

"I don't believe you!"

"Dee, this Carson. Are you in pain? Running around can't have been pleasant –"

"You shut the frell up!" Dee yelled with another note of panic in his voice. "I know what you want and I'm not coming out! You're a liar and you better stay away!"

"A liar?" Elizabeth looked questionably at Carson who was both confused and hurt by the accusation. He'd been making progress with Dee and now it looked like it was all for nothing.

"And you're a liar too, Elizabeth," said Dee. "You said I wasn't your prisoner, that you were going to help and you're not and I'd rather die here than go with you. And when my parents get here and find me dead, you'll be sorry because they'll kill you and you'll bleed and it'll be horrible." Dee stopped suddenly, a choked off cry echoing awkwardly off the walls.

"John," said Elizabeth softly and he nodded and shooed everyone out. Carson gave her a resolute look and stayed.

"Dee?" she called softly wanting to comfort him. "Dee I'm sorry we made you fear us. Can you tell me why you think you're our prisoner?"

There was a long pause broken only by Dee's shuddering breaths. "You want to do medical tests on me," he finally said. "You don't do that to people who aren't prisoners." The disembodied words hung heavily in the air. Elizabeth and Carson looked at each other, remembering their conversation after lunch.

"Dee, you misunderstood," said Carson gently. "The tests are non-invasive and they're only to help me better understand your body so I can help you."

"Maybe I don't want you poking around my genetic material!" Dee shouted surprising them both. "I'm not stupid! You say you just want to help me so I'll trust you and then you'll tie me down and get your needles and drugs and ask me how I'm different and once you're done with me, if I'm not in pieces you'll probably sell me to the mines where all the other half breeds go."

The contempt and fear were plain in Dee's frantic shouting, and Elizabeth was shocked. What kind of world did he live on that would sell a child into slavery for an accident of birth?

"Dee, I know it's hard to understand, but things are different here," she said. "We don't experiment on people and we certainly don't sell them into slavery in mines, no matter what kind of DNA they have."

"Yeah, right. You're the ruler; you have to say that, only I'm not playing."

"What can I do to convince you?"

"Nothing," said Dee quietly now. He took a deep breath and when he spoke again it was calm and in a tone that no child should ever know. "There's nothing. You don't get me."

"Dee, please reconsider," tried Carson, twisting up. "You're injured. You've got broken ribs. Lord knows what you've done to them by crawlin' about. Let me help you, please. I won't do any genetic tests, any tests at all, but you can't stay here until your parents come. It's too dangerous for you."

"You're dangerous to me. I pass."

"Dee –"

"Carson," Elizabeth placed a hand on his arm sympathizing with the anguish clearly written on his face. "Dee, I'm sorry you don't trust us. We want to help, but we can't unless you let us. You have two choices here," she said in her best business tone. "You can stay up there cold, hungry, and in pain. We can't get through the vents to you short of blowing up the wall and you with it. I don't want to do that. But if you're up there too long you could die. Or you can trust us when we tell you that we will not harm you and come down so we can take care of you. We'll give you a few minutes to think it over. Someone will be just outside the door so when you're ready to make a decision, just call out. Come on, Carson."

"But, Elizabeth –"

"It's his choice, Carson, and we need to give him some space to make it," she said calmly as she ushered him out the door to where the others were waiting. "Gentlemen, ladies, let's give him some space." Certain Dee was watching them, Elizabeth led the others away wondering what she would do if Dee decided to be stubborn.

* * *

D'argo thought it over. It took a long while for his heart to slow down and his legs to unclench enough to sit, however awkwardly. The cramped ventilation shaft was smaller than Moya's access corridors. It smelled foreign and there was no soothing hum, only soft light. He wondered if this place was alive and tried to ignore the cold that had settled all around him and the pain in his chest that had been caused by all the sneaking around. He was hungry and having been hungry before once when they'd been looking for Chiana, D'argo knew that he didn't want to be hungry or cold or in pain. He didn't want to die.

Mom and Dad were coming. They didn't talk about it much but D'argo knew the stories from places they'd visited, from Rygel, from the ambassadors' kids at school on Hyneria, from their parents and the way the new ones stared at Mom and Dad. He knew most of it was exaggerated but he also knew that there were certain subjects they refused to talk about that would only come up indirectly when they were teaching him how to run or hide or fight. Don't die, was the first rule. Don't panic, find another plan, and never, ever give up. "Giving up," Dad would say, "would only get you turned into a statue."

He knew Dad used to be crazy. He knew that the guy Dad hated, that had hunted him down, had lived on Moya and that he and his parents had actually worked together. He knew Dad had strapped a bomb to himself and walked into a nest of Scarrens and Peacekeepers right before the war. It was one of those things they didn't talk about and when D'argo had interrupted Rygel and asked him why, his uncle had said, "when there are no choices, you must create them." It had all been a bluff, but theirs to play.

D'argo didn't have a bomb. D'argo didn't even have a plan. But D'argo didn't want to die.

Dad wasn't crazy anymore. Stark had been broken once and then fixed. It's where he'd gotten the scar from on his face. Sometimes when they picked up Chiana she would be wild and angry but Mom and Dad always brought the real Chiana back.

So the way D'argo saw it, he had three choices, not two. He could stay and refuse everything they gave him. He could stay and ask for food and hope it wasn't drugged. He could go with them and pray for more choices.

And maybe they really didn't want to hurt him. The last two days he hadn't come to any real harm beyond what the crash had done. They didn't try to force him to do anything. And his food hadn't been poisoned.

But they were human and Grandma said that they didn't handle aliens well. They'd been more scared of Mom than anyone else and they weren't ready for different.

He didn't know how long he sat there and shivered. D'argo didn't know what to do, but he called out for the guard anyway.

* * *

In another time and place

* * *

The Den was hushed with the sounds of Moya and Pilot. From the floor in their favorite spot against Pilot's console, John and Aeryn's voices were equally hushed and filled with unaccustomed tension.

"What about Rykker?" said Aeryn. "Wasn't he trading out this way?"

"Two cycles ago," said Pilot.

"We haven't heard from him since we stopped on that Tyshini colony," added John, his voice a rumble in her ear. "Him or Kibbles-n-Bits. What about Peter Pan?"

"Pedder Pyoni," Aeryn corrected him not even bothering to roll her eyes at the familiar name mangling. "And you said him already. We haven't heard from him since Zhaanah started walking." In fact, they'd been over every one-time resident of Moya whom they trusted, and even a few of the untrustworthy. Every trader, every contact, every friend and fiend on every planet even remotely close that might possibly be able to help them. They were headed for the blue tunnel and neither one of them relished the prospect of tumbling down it alone. There was safety in numbers, though their numbers had always been few, but at the moment it was just John and her if they left Zhaanah to Norianti's care.

"Who else is there?" John sighed heavily, the rise and fall of his chest taking Aeryn with it. Aeryn would be happiest if they found Chiana, but that was unlikely in the short time they had. John was exhausted. Sleepless nights and the unending search for the wormholes he could sense – though he had never tried before over such vast distances – were adding up. Aeryn didn't question him and didn't try to force sleep on him that wouldn't come for her either. Instead they passed the night hours their son spent missing here, trying to think of a plan better then rushing in headfirst with their eyes closed. The best they'd come up with was rushing in headfirst with a lot of guns.

"I will continue trying to reach our former passengers," said Pilot. "But I do not think we will get a response."

"Thank you, Pilot," Aeryn murmured. She pulled John's arms more tightly across her middle, taking from them what warmth she could. She didn't care if there was no response. They would find him. What was lost they always found. Always.

* * *

"What is so important that I'm being dragged all the way across the city to a tower that, may I remind you, has structural damage from the siege? You found the boy, fixed the doors, by yourselves amazingly enough, and if you want a pat on the head and tuna for dinner you are wasting your time. So what do you need me for?" Rodney never failed to make an entrance. "Chop, chop, I was on my way to what passes as dinner."

"Hello to you too, Rodney," John smiled with sarcasm. Elizabeth decided she better step in before they got started.

"Dee requested to see you," she repeated what had already been said on the radio, raising an eyebrow. "Said something about a deal?"

"Yes, yes, I brought the necklace," Rodney patted his pocket. "He let me examine it again after I told him what his lunch tasted like. Got pudding out of it too," he hummed. "I did mention that he's paranoid."

"Stealing pudding from a kid," said John looked at him sideways. "Have you no shame?"

"You're just jealous 'cause there wasn't any jello left when you got to the mess," snapped Rodney.

"And whose fault would that be?"

Rodney's chin went up defensively and he was about to say something suitably righteous, Elizabeth was sure, so she stepped between the two of them and ushered Rodney firmly to the door. "Rodney, Dee wants to see you. Sooner rather than later."

"Right, he's in there?" He peered through the open door with a frown.

"He's in the wall," grumbled Radek.

"In the wall?" Rodney turned back, appalled. "How incompetent are you people that you can't get a kid out of a ventilation system? It moves air! All you have to do is send a smoke bomb in."

"I'd rather he came out of his own free will," said Elizabeth firmly though the smoke bomb sounded like a good last resort. John however just gave Rodney his now-who's-the-idiot look.

"He got out of surgery two days ago for internal bleeding and _broken ribs_. The point is to not have him writhing in agony because he's coughing up a lung."

"Oh, right," Rodney winced in sympathetic pain. "I'll just go . . . talk to the wall then."

"If it's the least you could do."

"Now you're just jealous that he likes me better than you," was Rodney's parting shot as he went through the doors.

"At least I didn't steal his pudding," John called back. Elizabeth tried not to smile as she turned to eavesdrop on the other room.

Rodney stopped in the center of the room and said, "So, I'm here. You, uh, wanted to talk to me. Of, course, it would help if I could see you." His brisk tone would have made Elizabeth wince had it been anyone else. As it was she just hoped that Rodney didn't ruin all hope they had of getting Dee back to safety.

"Did you bring it?" Dee's voice floated from the wall, soft and ghostlike.

"Yes," said Rodney, pulling the necklace out of his pocket and shaking it in the air. "I told you I wasn't going to steal it. I'm not crawling up there to give it to you, though. If you want it you'll have to get out of the wall."

"That wasn't part of the deal."

"You're the one in the wall, and if you hadn't noticed, we want you out of the wall."

"For medical experiments," Dee spat back.

Rodney twisted to glance confused back at Elizabeth. "Medical experiments? That's what has you impersonating a dust bunny? Who the hell told you we'd do medical experiments on you? It's illegal, unethical, not to mention the fact that anyone who ever tried would get skinned alive by Carson."

"He's the one who wanted to do them."

"Oh, please," Rodney scoffed. "Carson may have screwy ethics when it comes to wraith but there's no way he'd hurt a kid. Besides, you're his patient and he takes everything that happens to you personally."

Dee didn't respond and the silence stretched until Rodney abruptly broke it, impatient as usual. "Look, I'm sure you're traumatized and very scared of us still because of some babbling idiot and it's all horribly awful for you, but no one's going to hurt you. And if you're not going to say anything, I'm going to go eat dinner," he added after another long pause turned before the last word was out of his mouth.

"Wait."

"What?" Rodney turned back to the wall.

"You have my necklace. We had a deal and it didn't include coming down."

"Oh, fine. Here." He strode toward the open grate and tossed it in. Elizabeth winced as their best chance at getting Dee down clattered to rest. "Happy now?"

"Thanks," said Dee. The noise of him moving through the ventilation shaft thudded dully through the room. Rodney nodded, shook his head, scowled and turned back toward the door.

"You're welcome," he said over his shoulder.

"What's pudding?"

"Pudding?" Rodney stopped short a look of surprise and guilt and defiance skittering over his features as he turned. Behind her, Elizabeth could feel John's smirk. "It's, um, that brown stuff you had for lunch."

"You ate all of it."

"Yes, I did." Rodney's chin lifted for a fight, but Dee didn't say anything for a moment.

Then, "Are the medical procedures really non-invasive?"

"What?" Rodney shifted at the change in topic. "You mean the genetic stuff? All he does is run a scanner over you and I think he already did that after your surgery, which, I'd like to point out, was invasive and saved your life. I realize you're a dumb kid, but even you should see that all this running around in towers that are about to fall down is stupid and only wasting my time."

"Why did you eat my pudding?" Dee asked.

Rodney's mouth opened and closed then opened again. "You're hiding in a ventilation shaft to get away from fictional plots against your life and you're worried about _pudding_?"

"But why?"

"Because I could. Besides, you didn't know what it was so you hardly knew what you were missing," Rodney added hastily and with more than a little guilt written on his face though he tried to hide it. "I refuse to feel bad about it especially now that you've ruined my day by interrupting very important work with your disappearing act. Now if that's all, I'm leaving."

Rodney was halfway to the door when Dee called out again for him to wait. He rolled his eyes this time and scowled when Elizabeth raised an eyebrow at him that sent him back in.

"What now? And this better not be about pudding!"

"Will you help me down?"

Elizabeth blinked as she watched Rodney falter in surprise. From the grate, Dee was staring at Rodney, wide-eyed and waiting.

No one was more surprised than Rodney. He sent a panicky look back at John and Elizabeth who nodded encouragingly. After all that, she couldn't believe it was this easy.

"Um, okay." Rodney stared back, his posture rigid. With a jerk, he suddenly put words into action, awkwardly clambering onto the table and raising his arms to grab hold of Dee and pull him out. Dee slid off the table as soon as he could and waited for Rodney to do the same before turning to the door. He wrapped his arms around himself but if he was in pain it didn't otherwise show. He stared at Elizabeth and met her gaze with determination, but for what she didn't know.

Taking it as an invitation, she entered the room with John and Carson right behind her. Dee's gaze flickered to each of them before coming back to rest on her.

"I don't want to go back to medical," he said quietly. "And I don't want either of them near me," he nodded toward the men behind her. His jaw clenched, and Elizabeth doubted that he believed they would do as he asked.

"Carson will want to make sure that you haven't hurt yourself," she said reasonably.

"No testing," Carson said hastily. "It'll be just like the exam I did before. That wasn't so bad, was it?"

"As for where you'll stay, I'm afraid it will have to be the infirmary at least until tomorrow," said Elizabeth. "We can't just let you have the run of the city and you don't seem to want any of the rest of us around."

Dee gulped. "Can I stay with Rodney?"

"What?" spluttered the scientist. "No! Absolutely not! I refuse to have any part of this. Why would you even want to stay with me? I hate kids!"

"Rodney." Elizabeth silenced him. "We'll talk about it tomorrow along with some other things. I give you my word that nothing will harm you while you're here. You're being very brave to trust us."

"I don't. I just have a better chance with you than in the circulation tubing." Defiance crept in to overcome the fear. Dee stood up a bit straighter and dropped his arms to his sides. Elizabeth saw the links of his necklace dripping out of his tightly clenched fist. "I look forward to our meeting."

"As do I," replied Elizabeth, surprised by the sudden formality. Dee was still scared, that was plain to see, but now he pulled dignity around him like a shield. When he looked past her to Carson, the doctor startled himself into action. Once Dee was safely on the gurney and on his way to the infirmary, Elizabeth called a meeting to figure out just what they were going to do with their unexpected guest.

* * *

Thanks to everyone who has reviewed. It's great to hear from people. Until next time . . .  



	4. Four

* * *

Four

* * *

"So why don't we get started," Elizabeth smiled.

D'argo stared back, a solid knot in his stomach. She and Kate sat in two chairs side by side next to his bed and there was a guard on the door. D'argo wasn't supposed to know about him but his hearing was better than they thought.

"I don't have to tell you anything," he said.

"Dee, we're trying to help you. We can't help you if we don't know what's going on." Elizabeth shifted forward in her seat. "Please. Maybe we can help you get back to your parents."

They'd been nice. Carson had done the medical exam last night and been gentle and then given him stuff for the pain. They'd fed him and one of the women helpers had even asked if he wanted company. She hadn't smiled when she asked either and D'argo had almost said yes. Now that he was back in medical care and nothing had happened, D'argo didn't know what to think about these people.

"You can't," he said flatly.

"Let us try?"

"You don't even know what we can and can't do," said Kate. "We might surprise you."

D'argo half shrugged. He really didn't know. Things were all different from what he'd expected of humans and he was confused about where they were. He'd seen an ocean outside the endless buildings and no sign of land. Everything looked too unlike what he knew about Earth, or what he thought he knew. He'd gone down a wormhole and he knew anything could happen when you did that. Dad had told him about Alice and the Mad Hatter and the Cheshire Twill. Chiana had told him about the real time they'd all ended up at Halloween and met his Dad as a kid which was way more than D'argo had ever wanted to know about her and Dad.

"Fine," he said because he had gone back to them and sort of agreed to all this. "Ask. Can I ask questions too?"

"Of course." Elizabeth smiled again and so did Kate.

"Anything you want to ask first?" asked Kate.

"Well, you never said what planet we're on," D'argo ventured.

"That's because we haven't named it yet or found a name for it that the Ancient's used," said Elizabeth. "They always referred to the city itself."

"Which is called Atlantis?"

"Yes."

"So what sector are we in?"

The two adults looked at each other. "Sector?" asked Kate.

"Of space," said D'argo, trying to orient himself. "You know, where we are."

"Well, we call where we are the Pegasus Galaxy," said Elizabeth.

"But you're not from here." D'argo was certain of it, and the certainty felt like a weight on his chest that only got worse when she said, "No. We're from a different galaxy we call the Milky Way."

"Oh." D'argo tried to breathe; he really did, and finally managed it after a second.

"Dee?" Elizabeth laid a hand on the bedrail. "Are you all right?"

"Yeah. I'm just . . ." He took another deep breath. He knew about fifteen names for his galaxy, and Milky Way was his Dad's. He was really far from home.

"Take your time," said Kate. "I know this is a surprise. It's nothing to be frightened of. We're human just like you."

"You don't understand," said D'argo as the realization that he was really far from home and all alone made him lose track of all breathing again. "I'm in the wrong one." How was he getting out of this? Would they even be able to find him? Would he have to grow up here bound to a rock for the rest of his life? His skin pricked with the thought of never seeing his family again.

"Hey, it's all right," Elizabeth soothed. "Look at me, Dee. That's good. It'll be all right." Her certainty was enough to help. If people could go through wormholes, so could signals. "That's it. Can you tell us what you mean by wrong one? Do you mean the wrong galaxy? Our names don't necessarily mean – "

"I'm in the wrong one," D'argo insisted, frustrated that she was so dense. "And if you're here I'm in the wrong reality too and my parents will still kill you if you hurt me!"

"Dee, it's okay. We're not going to hurt you," Kate leaned forward and said in a calming voice. D'argo was quickly losing his grip on calm again but fought off the panic. "Why don't we start at the beginning. I think we're getting ahead of ourselves. What happened to bring you here?"

"It wasn't my fault." D'argo began with a deep breath. He believed them about not hurting him, at least more than he did yesterday.

"What wasn't your fault?" prompted Elizabeth.

"I got kidnapped." It was shameful to remember. "Mom recognized her species and they wanted Moya for me. She had a needle to my throat and something that knocked me out before Mom could get me back." He'd been too small to fight properly and it had happened so fast. "I woke up in the shuttle and we went through a wormhole and then I woke up here. In the wrong everything." D'argo hoped he hadn't said too much, but didn't know what else to tell them. Neither of them was smiling now.

"I'm so sorry, Dee," said Elizabeth. She reached forward and put her hand on the rail again, reaching out to him. "Who's Moya?"

"Home," said D'argo. He closed his eyes wishing not for the first time that when he opened them he would see golden light instead of blue and gray. But opening them did not wake him up.

* * *

"So that's it? He's as clueless as we are?" asked John.

"Wait, can we back up to where he thinks he's in the wrong _reality_? Because I think that's just a little more important here," Rodney interrupted with his hands trying to grasp the concept. "And how does he even know about alternate realities, anyway? And wormholes! He didn't even know what a stargate was!"

"He lives on a ship." Weir dropped this little bombshell on Rodney who actually gaped for a whole second giving enough time for her to add, "And he thinks he's in the wrong galaxy too."

"All right. I need to talk to him," Rodney sat back frowning. "Something here is not right –"

"Does he know if his kidnappers can follow him here?" asked John over Rodney's mutterings.

"He still insists that his parents will come for him and 'kill us' should any harm come to him," said Weir. "If they can follow him, I think we better assumed that his kidnappers can too."

"Para-noid."

"Dr. McKay," said Heightmeyer. "He was just forcibly separated from his parents."

"Yes, yes, sorry," Rodney only sounded vaguely apologetic.

"So Kate, any luck with finding a guardian?" Weir turned to Heightmeyer.

"I've gotten a few responses from the scientists. None of them seemed very enthusiastic," Heightmeyer said. "They all wanted to know how it would affect their work time. We'll probably need to set up a rotation."

"What about the military personnel?" asked John, wondering if any of his own people had volunteered.

"Dee asked that I not ask soldiers or medical personnel," said Heightmeyer. John sat back at that and squashed the bit of resentment that for the first time a kid didn't like him. The door opening distracted him however and he turned as Teyla joined them. She was dressed in her shaggy coat with a bag on her shoulder, obviously just back from her trip to the mainland.

"I am sorry I am late," she said sitting and setting her bag at her feet. "I brought the clothing for Dee."

"Good," Weir smiled. "We we're just discussing a guardian for him while he's with us."

"Or lack there of," muttered John.

"No one here will take him?" asked Teyla with that little head tilt she did when she was surprised by their customs.

"He refuses soldiers and doctors and none of the scientists want to take time off from work," John explained.

"Yes, because what we do is so unimportant," snapped Rodney.

"I'm just saying he could probably hang out with the linguists and not get into any trouble."

"This is the kid who was attached to an IV and managed to seal himself in a _wall_," Rodney replied. "I don't think trouble's going to be a problem for him. It's a wonder he doesn't like you given how similar you two are."

"You know, he wanted to stay with you. Shouldn't we be honoring his wishes about that?" John asked Elizabeth enjoying Rodney's sputtering out of the corner of his eye.

"Me!" Rodney demanded. "That's got to be the worst idea I've heard out of you yet, Sheppard."

"Yeah, you're right," John smiled pleasantly at McKay. "You'd probably blow him up within a day.

"Oh, ha ha, I think I could manage to avoid that, thank you very much."

"Are you volunteering?"

"No! What makes you think –"

"I'll take him, Dr. Weir," Teyla said loudly over their bickering. "I have enough time between missions and it'll be a distraction from these two."

"See," John leaned over and hissed at Rodney. "Now you've made Teyla mad at us."

"Thank you, Teyla," Weir said with a pointed look in John's direction. He gave her his best impersonation of innocence that she wasn't buying for a second and grinned at the comments Rodney was making under his breath. "Dr. Beckett wants him to remain on Atlantis until he's healed," she turned back to Teyla. "If you need any help don't hesitate to ask. And Rodney, if you want to talk to Dee, I suggest you ask Teyla first. Thank you." They all got to their feet, the meeting over. Teyla joined John and Rodney at the door.

"What do you wish to talk to Dee about?" she asked. Rodney filled her in on what she'd missed while she'd been on the mainland checking in with her people for the last two days. He started with the grave interruption if his work by Dee running off and went from there with great detail given to the fact that Dee would only come down after Rodney had talked to him. John rolled his eyes at the retelling and couldn't help but wonder just why Dee liked Rodney. He was mean to the kid, called him an idiot, stole his pudding, and treated him like an annoyance. John just didn't get it. Hell, half the time, he didn't know how he ended up friends with McKay.

By the time Rodney had distracted himself with the whole alternate universe and wrong galaxy thing, the three of them were about three halls from the infirmary. John took the time Rodney spent asking someone for a laptop over the radio to ask Teyla if she knew what she was getting into.

She smiled. "I have spent much time with children among my people, Colonel. I believe I will manage just fine."

"No school or day care, no parents to pick him up later." John's one babysitting job, an emergency for his neighbors when he was sixteen, had entailed six hours of counting the seconds until the mom got home.

"I'm sure we will come up with ways to pass the day. You forget that we do not have schools as you do."

"If you say so," John wisely let it go. They had reached the infirmary and being the concerned CO that he was, John shamelessly used the excuse that he needed to talk to Carson about the medical status of a couple of his soldiers as an excuse to follow them in and eavesdrop. In fact when he heard Rodney start grilling the poor kid behind the curtain, he did go see Carson.

"Two more days of PT and then light duty for a week," said Carson about Hughes. "Galton's more or less in one piece. I've given him instructions and put him on light duty but he should be back in form in two weeks."

"Good to hear," John nodded.

Carson shrugged. "You're waiting on Rodney and Teyla?"

Caught, John nodded. "It's nice to have the update though."

"Right." Carson usually sent him an email with all the pertinent information and wasn't buying it.

"How's he doing?" John went ahead and asked.

Carson shrugged again, a grimace passing in place of his smile. "Physically he's well enough. Didn't hurt himself beyond bruising and cramping on his walkabout." John sensed a 'but' in there and waited for Carson to go on. "He's quiet. I can't get a sense of how he is mentally. I know he was kidnapped and after this whole fiasco he trusts us less than he did, but normally I'm not this bad with kids."

"Yeah, same here," said John. "I don't get why he likes Rodney."

"If you figure it out, tell me. Maybe being an arrogant arse is the answer. Maybe I should check again for head trauma. To think he wanted to stay with him."

John grinned. "I would have bought tickets to see that. Teyla's taking him."

"Good luck to her."

"She'll be fine. She probably has more experience with kids than the rest of us put together." John thought about those 21600 seconds and was only grateful it wasn't him, jolt to his ego or not. "Well, I better go rustle up some marines to move another bed into her room. See you later."

Carson nodded and John left. Despite his own assurances, he hoped Teyla could handle him. Dee was a smart kid, and from the sound of it, from a world completely different from Teyla's and the Athosians. He just hoped that Rodney was right about the tracking necklace.

* * *

Teyla watched from the door as Dee wandered around her room. He was silent as he had been since Dr. Beckett had released him into her care, and he didn't touch anything. It took him a few minutes to take in the candles and home-woven cloth Teyla used to blunt Atlantis's abstract beauty. Finished, he sat on the bed that had appeared in Teyla's room since she'd been gone and eyed her up and down.

"You have a lot of candles," he said with a vague hand wave at all the ones behind her bed.

"Yes. I find their light calming." Teyla came and sat facing him from her own bed. "I grew up on the land and under the sky."

"Do you miss it?"

"Yes. But I have found a new life here that I would also miss if I left." She hoped that her own otherness would show him that he was safe here. He had gone quiet when she'd told him that she was his guardian, a marked contrast from how he'd reacted to Rodney's inquisition. The scientist had first demanded an explanation of what Dee thought had happened then proceeded to enumerate just how wrong it was in an argument that neither Teyla nor Dee had followed. The boy hadn't been cowed however.

"Well, you're wrong," he declared without flinching. "Cause I'm here and I know I'm in the wrong galaxy and the wrong reality, _and_ if all you have is that stargate thing then you've never seen a _real_ wormhole anyway."

"'Never seen a real wormhole?' I'm sorry, I guess what we've been working with for _years_ has been a figment of our collective imaginations," Rodney snapped. "So please, professor, enlighten me."

"You don't know everything you think you do. Your wormholes and the one I came through are not the same and I don't _know_ how, okay? I didn't even know someone was stupid enough to put a wormhole on a planet."

That had only brought on another thousand questions from Rodney whose answers were clearly unknown by the child, so Teyla put an end to it, stared Rodney down, and finally been left alone with Dee. Beckett released him after dinner and Teyla had brought him back to her quarters to begin getting to know him. So far it seemed to be going well.

"And you. I'm sure you must miss your home," said Teyla.

"My parents will come for me," said Dee, and Teyla wondered who he was reminding.

"Of course," she smiled reassuringly. "In the meantime I hope that you will feel safe here."

"Yeah, I heard. No one's gonna hurt me." Dee rolled his eyes. "Is that how this guardian thing works? You keep people from hurting me?"

"No one will hurt you here, and you do us a disservice by assuming we would." Teyla waited until he met her eyes, defiant and disbelieving. "You are safe here."

Dee looked away and shrugged. "So you say."

"Then tomorrow I shall show you."

He looked up, hesitance and caution writ across his features but curious as well. "Okay,' he said. "Okay." He took a deep breath and sat up straighter. "Okay. So how _does_ this guardian thing work?"

Teyla smiled, broad and relieved. "It is my job to take care of you," she began. "You stay with me here at night and during the day I make sure you eat and have things to do and that you are not going to hurt yourself by wandering into dangerous areas. Or by crawling into ventilation shafts."

Dee actually smiled a bit at that. "Do I have to do what you say?"

Teyla thought a moment before answering. "I will not order you around needlessly. But I must request that you listen to me. I know this city and her customs. Is that acceptable?"

"Yeah." Dee nodded. "Okay. But I reserve the right to run away if I think you're putting me in danger."

"Very well," Teyla agreed. She leaned in close. "Just do not tell Dr. Weir."

In answer Dee stuck out his hand and Teyla shook it.

* * *

At breakfast, D'argo met the rest of Atlantis for the first time though none of them met him back. They went early because Teyla said it was more peaceful and fewer people were about. The early and late shift workers would be there but the majority of the soldiers and scientists would come later. D'argo wore the clothing Teyla had given him, brown home woven pants and long shirt with a colorful belted vest to keep him warm. It was loose on him and unfamiliar, the kind of clothing like Grandma's that just begged to get caught in valves and uneven surfaces. D'argo knew he didn't have to worry about that here since he didn't have any chores to do or lessons that involved tight spaces and machine guts, but it still felt like he was wearing the wrong skin.

D'argo followed Teyla through the blue and gray halls. It was very pretty, but like any other city he'd visited. The ceilings were tall and the windows elegant and everything was just a little bit cold and unwelcoming. The mess hall was a big open room with tall windows and tables everywhere. Sunlight poured in bright and welcoming and people were scattered about, often alone but sometimes together. No one looked up when they came in and went to the long table that held the food. Teyla handed him a tray with little partitions in it and started talking about what everything was. Most of it was grain based and there was a lot of bread and a couple different spreads. There was one platter of meat and lots of hot drinks. D'argo took what Teyla did – toast, a couple slices of meat, and oatmeal that looked nothing like what Dad called oatmeal – and followed her to a table off to the side.

That was when other people started to notice him. At first it was just a few glances and double takes, then conversation stopped for a second before people went back to their own business, sneaking glances every once in a while. It was a little odd but D'argo preferred it to outright staring. Some places they went people stared either because of his family or because they were strangers or sebacean. The best places were the well traveled ones where odd was normal. It was actually a little weird to see so many people who looked sebacean; they didn't go to places like that very often, especially after D'argo's almost-conscription.

D'argo scooped up some of the oatmeal and tentatively licked a little off his spoon. It was a little sweeter but otherwise much like what Grandma made sometimes, a little bland and a little pasty. Reassured, he finished off the spoonful.

"How do you like it?" asked Teyla who'd been watching him.

D'argo nodded and ate another spoonful.

"My people make something similar but I like the added sweetness of the oatmeal from Earth," Teyla returned to her own meal.

"Yeah," D'argo agreed without looking up. He focused on his oatmeal trying to pinpoint differences but he didn't recognize the other flavors in it. When he tried the bread it too was both very familiar and just a little different. It was good.

"So," said Teyla brightly when D'argo had eaten about half of everything including the meat stuff that was chewier than he was used to but still okay, if not nearly spicy enough.

"How would you like to spend the day? I'm afraid there is not much available for children here and I can't take you to the mainland until Dr. Beckett clears your injuries."

D'argo looked up and shrugged. He stabbed another piece of meat with his fork and bit off smaller bites from the edges.

"Well what do you like to do? What did you do on your ship?"

"Chores and lessons," D'argo shrugged again. He spent a lot of time crawling around Moya like a DRD with his notebook checking on synapses and connections and general functioning. Dad made him write down what he saw and draw pictures even when there wasn't anything wrong. It was so boring but he couldn't play or do other stuff until the section for the day was done. He thought about crawling around this city and what he'd seen of the crystals and stuff that made the doors work, so very different from Moya's fibers and fluids.

"The people of Atlantis went to schools when they were young," said Teyla. "Among my people we teach our children the family crafts and they help in the fields."

"I only go to school when were on Hyneria," said D'argo. It was the ambassadors' school and that was sometimes more boring than drawing dormant systems. The stuff about other species was cool though and almost made up for the histories and etiquette. He liked Jothee's and Grandma's stories much better.

"Is that your homeworld?"

He shrugged again.

Movement beside him attracted D'argo's attention. A man with thick ropy hair stood with his tray piled high. He wasn't in a uniform and dressed kinda like Teyla, although like her he was also clearly a fighter. "Hi," he said, "Teyla. May I join you?"

"Ronon," Teyla smiled. "Please. Is that all right, Dee?"

D'argo decided that it would be. He clearly didn't belong to the soldiers and he looked pretty badass, like Jothee, and he also had a tattoo on his neck. He tried to get a better look at it when Ronon sat down, straining forward until Ronon raised questioning brows at him.

"What's it mean? Your tattoo?" he asked. It was geometric and not symbolic.

Ronon grinned a little. "It shows my rank and regiment. In my old service," he added.

"So you were actually a soldier?" D'argo sat back a little. "But you're not from Earth."

"On my homeworld, Seteda. Specialist Ronon Dex." He nodded amicably and bit off half a piece of toast.

"Specialist in what?"

"Everything," said Ronon with another smile.

"Fine." D'argo rolled his eyes and turned back to his food. Ronon wasn't worth talking to if he thought D'argo was just some dumb kid. Ronon and Teyla looked at each other over his head which only irritated D'argo more. "You're tattoo's real small for someone who specializes in everything."

"It's for small arms and close combat," said Ronon.

D'argo looked him over critically. He was a tall guy and his muscles stood out under his sleeveless vest. The even and amused look he gave D'argo in return was confident and a little challenging back. Strong and powerful and utterly fearless. D'argo looked him in the eye and said, "It's still real small."

Ronon actually laughed, the smile cracking his face. "And how big should it be?" he asked.

"Jothee's cover his forehead and half his chest. He's a lot dradder than you. And I bet he's a better fighter."

"I'd like to meet him," said Ronon easily. "Is he your brother?"

"No," D'argo scoffed. "But we visit him when he's free. He's a Luxan warrior." But neither Teyla nor Ronon knew what that meant. And like that he was back in the wrong place, all alone. "Never mind," he said.

"No, please," said Teyla. "We'd like to know more."

"You're just saying that," D'argo replied, because she was and Ronon, who was swallowing another piece of toast whole didn't look interested. Besides, how could he describe Jothee to these humans? Ignoring them, D'argo finished his oatmeal and tried not to think about home. He was here now and he'd agreed to be in their care and wanting Jothee to come rescue him wasn't going to help.

"I assure you I'm not," said Teyla. "We would like to get to know you better."

"Is this an interrogation?" D'argo demanded to shut her up. It worked; Teyla sat up straighter, bristling. Before she could respond, however, Ronon broke the tension by laughing again.

"What do you know about interrogations?" he asked.

"Ronon," said Teyla disapprovingly.

He waved a hand at her dismissively and spooned up more oatmeal, regarding D'argo with amusement. D'argo shifted uncomfortably and looked away.

"I'm sorry if I made you uncomfortable," Teyla apologized. "I want you to feel safe with me."

D'argo nodded slightly but didn't say anything. He tried to ignore Ronon but his gaze was like an itch in his head. It was true, he didn't know much about interrogations. He'd never seen one or heard one, but he'd heard plenty of stories. Every one heard stories or knew them or told them. D'argo had seen a lot of places, though. He knew what was out there in the universe. He'd _been_ there and this guy hadn't. What did _he_ know of interrogations?

"Dee?"

D'argo realized he'd been asked a question. "What?"

"Any thoughts on what you would like to do today?"

"No."

Teyla began suggesting things then, but D'argo ignored her, uninterested. He wouldn't have any real choice. Whatever they said, he was still sort of their prisoner, even if they were trying to be nice. And he shouldn't forget that.

* * *

By lunch, Teyla had taken Dee around most of the city. He'd been summarily unimpressed with both the ocean all around them and the majestic rise of the towers and elegant architecture. He hadn't been interested in Athosian stories once he'd learned that her people were agrarian and nomadic, and her hushed description of the wraith had been met with a shrug. Teyla found his apathy frustrating but further questions about what he liked or studied in school were also shrugged off accompanied by suspicion of her motives. Surly and quiet, nothing Teyla said or did was correct.

At lunch, Teyla nodded to Colonel Sheppard as he detoured past their table to sit with McKay and a few other scientists. The mess was crowded as usual and Dee spent more time watching everyone else than eating. After a few attempts at conversation that received a startled "what?" Teyla let the quiet stand and watched Dee watch everyone else. They got more stares in return and from some, especially the soldiers, smiles and waves. Dee didn't return them but he was surprised. He looked at Teyla briefly but didn't ask what was on his mind. Instead he turned back to the room thoughtfully, his eyes settling on McKay and Sheppard.

After lunch, Teyla still didn't know what he was thinking. Dee however was paying more attention now as they walked through the halls toward the rec room. Teyla figured there would be something in there that would interest him and at the very least they could watch one of the movies available. Indeed when they arrived, Dee stopped short at the door when he saw the TV and the two shelves of movies, books, and games.

"You have a TV," he said, clearly surprised as Teyla was that he recognized it.

"You know what it is?"

"We had one till it was destroyed when we were boarded once. I was little. Dad couldn't fix it." He walked slowly toward it, touching it lightly. "Can we watch it?" he turned and asked.

Teyla nodded. "We must select a DVD first." Dee grinned for the first time all day and turned to the shelf. He fingered the thin boxes.

"What do they say?" he asked excitedly. Teyla joined him and set about deciphering the text that she was still learning and telling him what the movies were about. After hearing them all, Dee picked _Gladiator_ and sat raptly through the tale, cheering at the battles and telling the emperor how he was crazy. So caught up was he that he didn't notice when two off-duty soldiers came in and joined them.

Teyla nodded to the marines who grinned back and nudged each other at Dee's obvious delight.

"Wow!" Dee collapsed back against the couch when the credits began. "That was so drad! Does that still happen?" he turned to the marines with no trace of wariness.

"No, that was set about two thousand years ago on Earth," said Ryan Farr.

"So you can't fight like that?" Dee sounded disappointed.

"Teyla could, I bet," said Gears with a grin in her direction. "I bet she'd teach you if you ask real nice."

"If you wish, I can show you how my people fight," Teyla agreed.

"With swords? You'd let me hold a sword?"

"Staves," said Teyla. "One in each hand and as effective."

"So how come they didn't have guns? We're they primitive?" Dee turned back to Farr and Gears. "And how did the Coliseum work with all the traps and what were those creatures? They were so drad!"

And as soon as one question was answered another three took its place. Farr and Gears did their best but Teyla could tell they were blundering through their answers about the functioning of the Coliseum and the intricacies of the Roman Empire and why the Senate was powerless to stop Commodus. Listening, Teyla decided that tomorrow they would pay a visit to the linguists and anthropologists.

* * *

Elizabeth listened to the report from the alpha site then called Sheppard, Lorne, and Rodney to the conference room. "The Eseasans called," she said when they all settled into their seats. "They say they've got a ship in low orbit that has made several passes over the crash site."

"Not wraith." John said and it was not a question.

"There have been no cullings and they don't recognize the design," Elizabeth confirmed. "They're asking that we send a team to help them in case they are hostile." An understandable request for the low tech Eseasans and one that Elizabeth had every intention of granting. "Major Lorne, I'd like you to take you team. Rodney, I want an engineer to go along to asses their ship and technology."

"Dr. Weir, maybe –"

"Colonel, you're team is off this week and Teyla is unavailable in any case." Elizabeth arched an eyebrow meaningfully. They'd had this conversation before.

Sheppard looked to the side but nodded. "We should send an extra squad just in case," he said. "I want someone guarding the gate and hourly check-ins."

Lorne and Elizabeth both nodded, the former getting up, already calling his team and backup together. John and Rodney rose as well but paused when they noticed Elizabeth in her seat.

"So," said John. "We taking bets?"

"Bets?"

"Kidnappers or parents."

Elizabeth smiled. "Let's hope it's parents."

* * *

John walked into the mess for dinner with still no word on the ship from Lorne. The Major and his men were bunking down in the village for the night and there wasn't anything else to do but wait. Dr. Weir was doing enough worrying for the two of them, so John decided to grab dinner and hopefully a distraction for a little while before heading back to the control room and forcing Elizabeth to take a break and eat.

It looked like fish-surprise was on the menu along with canned corn and rehydrated potatoes. John was getting really sick of the potatoes. Desert was jello which was about the only good thing in large supplied.

Looking for a place to sit, he saw Teyla and Dee sitting with a couple of his men and one of the scientists he didn't know. The physicists weren't in evidence yet so John headed for a table by the wall where he could see the rest of the room. As he passed by Teyla's table however, Dee's eyes caught him and he stopped, the world reduced to the boy's gaze. The others at the table stilled.

"Ryan says Teyla always beats you in a sword fight," said Dee.

"Yes, she does," John agreed.

"And Rodney likes you."

"We're friends."

Dee nodded. "I'm not afraid of you."

John grinned, happy at progress. "Good. I'm glad to hear it. Do you mind if I join you?"

"You can if you get Rodney to sit with us later," Dee twisted back to his meal and Teyla who smiled as the others tried to hide their grins. John took the empty seat by her across from Dee and grinned again at the boy who had propped his head on his hand.

"Farr, Gears," he greeted the marines and Teyla quickly introduced him to Dr. Hiro the anthropologist. "So what did you do all day? Something fun I hope."

"Your smile's creepy." Dee managed to stop John's fork halfway to his mouth. He cut a look at Gears who had choked on his drink.

While John was still frozen, Dee turned to Dr. Hiro and asked something about horses and then proceeded to ignore John's existence at the table – pointedly when John tried to add something. John got the message after the third display of the cold shoulder. Farr and Gears were more than welcome to join in as was Teyla who added questions rather than answers, but John felt the traces of grade school ostracism.

He was about to say something when Teyla placed a hand on his arm. "Please," she murmured. "He was silent and withdrawn for most of the day. Take this as progress."

John sighed and nodded. He wasn't a child after all, and it was true that Dee had come a long way from running from them just yesterday. He was relieved when Rodney and Radek came in though. The two of them were talking rapidly with no eyes for anything but food. They almost absently honed in on John and Teyla, joining them and nodding hello. It was only after Rodney had taken his first bite that he noticed Dee staring at him; his face fell, just a little, before rallying and grimacing.

"Haven't run off again, I see. Given up the lam for better food?"

"_Obviously_, since I'm here," Dee retorted in such a Rodney manner that John couldn't help the laugh that burst out of him. Rodney glared and Dee ignored him and said, "Teyla said you knew how the Coliseum worked."

"The Coliseum?" Rodney looked at Teyla in confusion.

"We watched _Gladiator_ this afternoon," she explained.

"What do you want to know about it?" asked Rodney cautiously. It was like opening the floodgates.

Dee's eyes positively lit up. "How many tigers could they keep down there? Did they eat other people? How did they keep them on the trap doors!"

Rodney blinked and looked at John a bit shell shocked. "You're the one who claims to know everything," said John, enjoying this very much.

"Well, I don't know about this! I'm a physicist! And yes, an engineering genius too –" Radek huffed "– but all I ever cared about the Romans was that they invented concrete and hygiene."

"So you don't know about the tigers?" asked Dee still hopeful. "Have you seen a real tiger?"

"In the zoo." Rodney shifted in his seat and tried to hide behind a huge forkful of fish.

"Really!" Dee almost whispered. "So what do you think? Would it die if it fell on all those levers and screw things?"

"Levers and screw things?"

"That's what they looked like."

"They probably used a system of pulleys and counterweights," said Radek. He looked just as wary as Rodney did about talking to Dee, but the survival of the others seemed to give him courage when Dee asked what he meant. Slowly, the engineer described how the elevators and trap probably worked. Rodney, never one to be left behind, joined in and pretty soon the three of them were designing a new coliseum with better traps and more tigers.

Dee told them where to put stuff and asked a lot of 'how's' and 'why's' about physics and structural engineering that was way over his head. He would scrunch his forehead and frown, pretending to follow along before shrugging and moving on to the next "draddest" thing that usually involved a gory death for any man stupid enough to walk into the building. Rodney and Radek seemed to forget they were talking to a child, and Radek was looking both smug and amused that his diagrams – drawn on paper napkins – were better than Rodney's. Farr and Gears threw in suggestions, getting lions and komodo dragons added to the list of dangerous beasts despite much derision and scorn from Rodney until Dee told him to "shut up, frogface."

Amazingly, it managed to shut him up long enough for Dee to add, "We're throwing in Charrids so it doesn't matter if the dragons don't belong there. Ooh! and we should put in Blood Trackers! We'll make it dark so they can't see and have obstacles for them to get around like cat-and-mouse!"

Dee was talking so fast, they barely got two words on Charrids – allied with the equally mysterious Scarrens and stupid enough to be their battle fodder – and Blood Trackers – they track people by smell – before he was off again.

John, a fierce young glare letting him know he was still unwanted, sat back and watched with Teyla and Dr. Hiro. It was fun listening to the new coliseum unfold. Radek and Rodney ate absently talking over one another with mouths full as they argued and rearranged walls and systems. Dee was pure excitement, thinking up things as fast as they were drawn. He was a different kid than the one John had chased yesterday and it was good to see.

"Good luck getting him to sleep tonight," he said to Teyla.

She smiled knowingly at him in reply. "I had forgotten how tiring it is to care for a child all day."

"Looks like you're doing fine."

"Thank you. I hope it is enough."

John nodded then stood and collected his tray. "Well, I better get back to the Control Room. I'll send Dr. Weir down to supervise this bunch. If you need to beat someone up tomorrow. . ."

"I will find you. Good night, Colonel."

With a light wave, John turned and took his tray in and headed to the nearest transporter, hoping like hell that Charrids and Blood Trackers would not be waiting for him when he got there.

* * *

Elizabeth looked up when Sheppard walked into her office. "You should get dinner," he said.

"Lorne reported back," she told him. "Another shuttle landed on the planet near the crash site. They're the same aliens as the pilot we found. So far they haven't made any hostile moves though the Major and his men were warned off by their soldiers. He says they look like they're just investigating what happened."

"How many of them?" Sheppard took the chair on the other side of her desk.

"Ten, though only four are armed and standing guard. I told Lorne to let them know we have the body of their pilot and then leave them to it."

"Not telling them about Dee?" John lifted his eyebrows.

Elizabeth sighed. "He says he was kidnapped. I want to wait and see what they have to say first."

"So we're back to waiting."

"As always." Elizabeth quirked a wry smile. It sometimes seemed like that was all she ever did. The lack of hostilities was a great weight off her mind though, and now dinner sounded like an excellent suggestion. "How's dinner?"

"Okay," John shrugged. "Dee and Teyla were there when I left."

"I better go now then." As Elizabeth stood so did John.

"Be sure to ask about the tigers," he said cryptically.

"Tigers," she repeated dubiously, but John just grinned as he followed her to the door.

* * *

"But Teyla – "

"Please, Rodney," she interrupted him. They were standing in the hall outside his lab after she'd ambushed him coming back from the bathroom. Over her shoulder, he could see Dee twenty feet away looking generally miserable. "Nothing I do interests him, not even the movies in the rec room." Teyla kept her voice low. "I took him to Dr. Hiro but he complained and wouldn't stay. He wants to see you."

"Well tell him 'no'! I'm not your babysitter." Rodney had work to do. "Leave him with the marines. He can watch them beat each other up."

"I tried," Teyla gritted out. "Despite yesterday's progress, he seems to be afraid of the soldiers again." She paused and looked away. When she met Rodney's eyes, she said softly, "He is also afraid of me. We went to the gym so I could teach him staves and he looked at me like . . . He refused. And has been difficult and silent since. Please," she asked again. "He is willing to stay with you."

The look in her eye was one that Rodney didn't often see in her face. It wasn't quite pleading because Teyla never begged with anything except dignity, but it wasn't something Rodney could ignore. The kid he could. "Fine," he frowned. "As long as he stays quiet and in the corner." Teyla smiled gratefully and he added, "You owe me so much chocolate for this."

"I know. Thank you." She turned and beckoned Dee over. The boy gave her the evil eye but came and stood pointedly beside Rodney. "Dr. McKay says you may stay, but you must do as he tells you."

"Or you'll beat me with your staves?" Dee was a far cry from the excited boy who had created the coliseum last night.

"No," said Teyla sadly. "And I am sorry that you think that. I am your protector and I would not see harm come to you. I will see you at lunch. Please do not be difficult."

"I don't want to meet you for lunch."

"Regardless, you will be meeting me for lunch." Teyla bent down so she was at his eyelevel. If looks could kill . . .

"Why? You're not my mom." Dee's arms were crossed across his chest. "And I'm _not_ afraid of you and your sticks."

Teyla sighed and took a step back. "No, I am not your mother. But she is not here and I am."

"Well you can go frell yourself!" Dee yelled and spun away from her, arms wrapped tight around his body.

Teyla took another step back and looked at Rodney who was just as shocked and clueless about the outburst as she was. And Teyla was going to leave him with this mess? Rodney stood helplessly as she took a deep breath and left. Dee remained with his back turned away, a few steps down the hall. Rodney couldn't tell if he was crying or not. God, he hoped not. He didn't know what to do as it was. What was he supposed to do with a homesick boy?

Deciding that ignoring it for the moment was the best policy, Rodney cleared his throat. "Are you coming in or not?"

Dee, not crying but obviously fighting tears, followed him into the lab and over to a piece of wall, away from breakable things. Rodney cast about for something for him to do but there were no spare laptops and he really didn't have anything on hand that wouldn't be dangerous. Finally, Simpson slapped a legal pad and a black pen into his chest. Rodney blinked at them then went to his own desk and grabbed a red and a blue sharpie. On impulse, he also grabbed a powerbar from his cabinet and took it all over.

"Here, you can draw something."

Dee accepted everything without looking up and still looking miserable. Rodney watched him settle on the floor and figure out the pens. "Why me?" he asked before he realized he was going to.

The boy finally looked up all black hair and wide blue eyes, small in Athosian clothing too big for him. "You don't smile at me," he said going back to the things in his lap. Taken aback, Rodney stared while Dee picked up the powerbar, twisting it around. "What's this?" he asked.

Automatically, Rodney took it and opened it for him. "You eat it." Flustered, he added, "Don't bother anyone," and turned back to his work. He scowled at everyone else who was looking at him. "Is work getting done by itself now?" he demanded. "This is not a soap opera." Although it felt like one.

Rodney was in over his head. Yes, he was ignoring the kid, but what else was he supposed to do? Dee _liked_ him. Rodney hated kids, perhaps not as much as Radek did, but he definitely didn't go about treating them like the cute, adorable . . . creatures they pretended to be. And Dee, for some reason, liked him because of it. Because he didn't smile. Rodney didn't want to touch that trauma with a ten foot pole.

He snuck a look over his shoulder where Dee sat curled against the wall. The half eaten powerbar was in the hand that held the pad still against his knees while his right hand drew. He was focused, and calm had replaced the earlier disquiet. Rodney had enough trouble understanding children so most of the time he didn't bother. Most of the time they avoided him right back. Now, however, he couldn't help but wonder what was going on in that little brain that had no problem talking back and putting Komodo dragons and aliens in a structurally sound coliseum. He wondered about the wormholes and realities. The boy lived on a ship, was as conversant with technology as they were on Atlantis, and yet terrified of people.

Rodney turned back to his screen, determined to get some work done. He could talk to the boy when he wasn't having a breakdown. Or when lunch rolled around. Whichever came first.

* * *

"They want to meet with us." Lorne's voice was a little crackly through the wormhole. "They say their superiors on their ship want to reclaim their dead. They weren't too specific on when their ship's supposed to get here."

"Tell them we await their arrival," said Elizabeth. She looked at John who smirked at her. She wondered how much of her excitement showed on her face. Their first aliens that weren't trying to kill them. Civil and polite, according to Lorne. They'd meet on the Alpha site of course, but the thought was still intoxicating. It resparked the spirit of adventure and discovery that had led them to Atlantis in the first place. Elizabeth took a deep breath and chided herself that these people had kidnapped Dee, that they were potential enemies as dangerous as the wraith.

But she had a good feeling about this.

* * *


	5. Five

* * *

AN: I know this is a month later than expected. I'm not apologizing. I have a life outside of fanfiction that is important to me too and things got busy.

I'd like to thank Cindy, my new and very helpful beta reader. She's the reason this part got rewritten and about ten times better.

* * *

Five

* * *

"Ow! Frell! Goddamn it!" John eased his smashed fingers from between the crate and the wall and clenched them to block out the pain. "Frell!" He kicked the crate for good measure, which did little to alleviate his frustration. He wanted to hurl it at the wall and watch it splinter and shatter but all that would accomplish would be grenades everywhere and a useless container.

"John?"

"I'm all right," he called over his shoulder toward the pod door. He flexed his fingers and willed away his helplessness. They were _doing_ something, finally, and it was crazy and probably stupid, but they were going after Little Dee. And leaving Zhaanah behind with Granny on Moya, and damn it, how was he supposed to protect his family if they were split up all over the universe? They were already deep in the Territories, far from their normal shipping route, or anything resembling regulated. It didn't take much imagination to know what could happen while Moya was a sitting duck waiting for them to phone home.

"John," Aeryn said again as she climbed the stairs to join him inside the pod. She set down her box and unslung two non-chakken rifles on top. "What did you do to yourself?" she demanded, taking his crushed hand from his good one and gently prodding it.

"Nothing. It's fine. Just got caught between the wall." John squeezed her hand, the pain fading quickly. "One of us should stay."

Aeryn shook her head. "We have a better chance together."

"And if neither of us come back?"

"That won't happen."

"Aeryn, what if it does," said John quickly. "Zhaanah needs us too. We can't just –"

"John, stop it." Aeryn caught his free hand that was flailing about and pulled him back to himself. He latched onto her calm gaze and wondered how she was keeping it together when all he wanted to do was fly apart. "Moya and Pilot can run if they need to, and Zhaanah will be fine with Norianti for a little while." She gripped his hands tightly. "I'm not giving up my son without a fight, but I can't do that without you by my side. We will find him, we will do whatever it takes to get him back, and we will all come home."

John tried to smile. "You always have the simple plans."

"I'll leave the details to you," she smiled back. John pulled her close and wrapped his arms around her, resting his head on her shoulder.

"I'd thought – hoped – we were done with all this," he half whispered.

"We've never been completely safe."

"No, I mean the Injun raids. Loading up with enough firepower to destroy . . . rescue someone they took." And what a path of destruction trailed behind them, faded with time yet bright in legend.

Aeryn's hands smoothed up and down his back but she remained silent. She was warm and solid, and not for the first time, John thanked every god in the universe that she was with him. "We will get him back, John," she said quietly. "We'll get him back."

* * *

D'argo watched as Teyla lit the candles around her room. The lights were dim and for once there was golden light instead of steel blue. Curled up on his bed under the covers, D'argo let out a breath he hadn't realized he'd been holding. He closed his eyes and let the candle light glow through his eyelids and wanted to go home so very badly. 

"Dee?" asked Teyla softly. He heard her put down the lighter and cross to his bed, but she stopped short. "Dee? Are you all right?"

He felt as if a wet blanket was waiting to smother him if he let his guard down. Everywhere he looked he saw people who were like him yet utterly foreign. He liked them and that scared him. When he opened his eyes, he saw again Teyla's gentleness and calm strength that he'd seen that morning, so much missing but also so much there that it hurt. He couldn't bear it then and now, he didn't know if he wanted her to come closer or leave him alone. He didn't know what he wanted of anybody here anymore. They weren't Peacekeepers and they weren't traders and they weren't starving or a government or. . . or anything he knew outside of home.

Teyla took a step closer and he felt the air move as she knelt by the bed. "Dee, it is all right to be afraid." Slowly, her hand rose until it stopped just short of his forehead. "May I?"

Dee closed his eyes again, unable to face her. A moment later he felt her brush his hair back and he wondered if this was how he would forget the danger. If he would get comfortable on the inside of this circle of people, if he would end up learning to fight from Teyla if . . . if Mom and Dad didn't come.

"Try to sleep," said Teyla. "I'll be here if you need me."

D'argo tried to swallow down the block in his throat. "I like the candles," he whispered.

"Sleep," said Teyla. "You are safe with me."

D'argo tried not to believe her.

* * *

"He won't leave me alone!" Rodney slammed his tray down across from John so hard that half his lunch caught air.

"Who?" asked John as he pulled his own tray closer to himself to avoid collateral damage.

"The midget!" Rodney huffed into his seat. "Teyla brought him to my lab yesterday because he refused to stay with her and now, he won't leave me alone!"

"Didn't he just sit in the corner yesterday?"

"Yes, drawing pictures of laptops with wings. Today he wanted to know how they worked."

John could imagine how well that went over. "And your charming personality didn't scare him away?"

Rodney scowled and dug into his potatoes, talking through his full mouth. "He said I reminded him of his uncle, and when I told him how stupid that was and how he had no sense of preservation whatsoever he started crying and asked how he could trust anyone else when they were all lying to him except me and he went on and on and he wouldn't shut the hell up."

"So you let him stay." John felt a grin tug at his lips.

Rodney shifted in his seat and shoveled in more food. "Yes," he said not meeting John's eyes. John grinned at him until Rodney couldn't take it any longer. "What? What? So I let him stay. That doesn't mean _I_ like it. And it doesn't mean I like him either, I just remember what it's like to hate all the adults around you."

"I never said anything," John protested lightly even though he was still grinning.

Rodney glowered and didn't deign to answer in favor of chewing.

"So you explained laptops," John rested his elbows against the table edge waiting for more. Fewer things were as entertaining as Rodney knocked off his equilibrium in a non threatening situation.

"I didn't – all right, fine, I did," he amended at John's eyebrow. "It's not like he understood anything other than that it stores and manipulates data."

"Rodney, did you even try to use words he knew?"

The scientist rolled his eyes. "I was trying _not_ to encourage him."

"Did it work?"

"He's discovered the joy of annoying me. What do you think? Threatening to call Teyla," Rodney waved his fork, "that worked. He started crying again, promised to be good, and actually stayed in the corner."

John winced at the mental picture of Dee sitting bored out of his scull in the corner of Rodney's lab the entire morning. "Please tell me you gave him something to do."

"Like what? Energy flow equations? He can't even read. That he's attached himself to my lab like a barnacle is not my fault, nor is it my responsibility to entertain him."

"The poor kid actually likes you, and pretty much only you. Would it kill you to set up a movie for him?"

"This may come as a surprise, but we don't have any spare laptops in the lab," said Rodney. "And if he doesn't like it, he can go with Teyla any time he wants."

"I won't!" Speak of the devil. The shout echoed through the mess cutting off all conversations, including theirs, as every head turned to the door. Dee was storming in with anger on his face as he scanned the room. His eyes paused on Rodney and John before skipping over the rest of the marines and scientists. Spinning on his heel he faced Teyla who looked like she was on her last nerve. "I went yesterday. There's no need to for me to go today."

"Dee, come, let us talk about this," Teyla tried to draw him back out to the corridor but Dee shook her off.

"I won't go!" He took a step away from her toward the food line. John looked at Rodney who was just as confused as he was at the scene. And scene it was with the whole mess watching the standoff.

"Rodney, I think Teyla needs a hand," said John getting to his feet.

Teyla matched Dee step for step with her hands up and a tense smile as if approaching a wild animal. "Dr. Beckett will not harm you. It will be like yesterday."

"He tried to scan me yesterday!" said Dee. "Don't think I don't know what you can do with a scan. I'm not stupid." He'd reached the silverware and trays and stopped, once more scanning the room and this time John recognized the calculation in the boy's sweep. "I don't feel safe with him and I thought you wanted me to feel safe!"

"Rodney!" John hissed to get the scientist moving as he shook his head at the three marines closest to the boy. No need to add fuel to the fire. Rodney finally got the right idea and huffed to his feet.

"All right, what the hell is going on?" he snapped striding over. "And the rest of you," he glared at the rest of the room. "This is none of your business." Guiltily, conversations started picking up again even if the surreptitious looks didn't stop.

"She wants to put me in danger," Dee declared first, two forks clenched tightly in his fist as he threw a glare at Teyla.

"I merely informed him that Dr. Beckett wishes to check his injuries again after lunch," Teyla said tightly to John and Rodney. "I will be there the whole time and nothing will hurt you," she turned back to Dee.

"That you know of," Dee snapped back. "It's my body and you don't get a frelling say about what happens to it."

"You agreed to listen to me."

"And you agreed I could run away if I thought I was in danger."

"Hey, everyone," John stepped between the virtual laser beams the two of them were giving each other. It sounded like every fight he'd ever had with his parents, and seeing it from the outside was giving John serious vertigo. "Cut it out." Dee closed his mouth and glared at John this time, glancing from his face to his side arm and just daring him to touch it and prove him right. "Rodney, take him and get him lunch. Teyla and I are going to talk to Beckett," he said looking straight at the kid.

Dee's eyes widened just a little, and John thought he saw him stand up just a little straighter but it barely registered because the next thing he knew, Dee was _bowing_ to him. "Thank you, sir," he said, words tinged with wariness but utterly polite and leaving John feeling like an awkward redneck. Dee turned away slowly, his eyes remaining carefully on John until his neck wouldn't twist any further and he paid more attention to the food options before him. The three teammates shared a moment of wondering what the hell just happened before John shoed Rodney after the kid. As he left with Teyla, John had the oddest feeling of having passed a test.

* * *

"Is he really going to talk to Carson?" D'argo glanced over his shoulder at Rodney. The colonel and Teyla were out of sight down the hallway. He let out a shaky breath and picked up a tray trying to hide the tremor in his hand. He couldn't believe it worked, but here he was with Rodney instead of Teyla and no med visit later if Colonel Sheppard could be trusted.

"I can't believe Sheppard just left me with you." Rodney's mouth twisted in a disproving line. "Well, hurry up," he said, snapping at both the soldier serving food and D'argo. Deciding silence was more appropriate after his success, D'argo didn't repeat his question until after he was seated across from Rodney.

"Is he really going to talk to Carson?"

"Yes. Are you deaf? And stop talking. You're annoying."

"How come you don't like kids?" Rodney had told him that all morning, but hadn't actually done anything about it.

"You are deaf!" Rodney pointed his fork at him. "Didn't I just tell you to stop talking? And this is why I don't like kids. I put up with you enough this morning."

Which D'argo took to mean that Rodney really did like him after all because he never followed through on his threats to call Teyla or the soldiers to take him away. Looking miserable worked.

"Is he?" D'argo persisted, because feeling safe or not, it could still all be for show.

"Yes!" Rodney huffed. "He's going to talk to Carson so you don't feel threatened, and while I commend your discerning sense of valid science this whole fear of medicine is taking it a bit too far."

D'argo shrugged and poked at his food. "I don't like him and I don't trust him."

"Right, because he's going to clone you or something equally nefarious." D'argo wasn't sure if he was being serious or not.

"Can you show me something drad later?"

"What?"

"Cool," D'argo corrected the expression. "I can still sit in your workroom later, right?" He couldn't remember what Rodney had said when Teyla came. After the fight, D'argo didn't figure she'd be in a nice mood to be with.

"No. I'm not your babysitter." Rodney frowned and had the same glare as when he'd first threatened to call Teyla.

"You could show me something cool," D'argo tried. "Please . . . I won't be any trouble. I could help you work." His parent let him help them or at least gave him another job to do. As much as D'argo wanted to stick with Rodney, sitting in the corner was getting old fast. "Please? Please?"

"No. I have important work to do that you couldn't possibly help with and I've already put up with you enough for one day."

"It doesn't have to be much. You could just give me some spare parts to work with. Just don't make me go with Teyla. She's mad at me."

Rodney rolled his eyes. "You were being a brat. In fact you're still a brat. Another reason I don't like kids."

"But I can still stay with you this afternoon, right?"

"Why this intense need to get away from Teyla?" Rodney asked.

D'argo shrugged, unsure of how to explain the uneasy feeling of disloyalty in his chest. "I like you better," he said instead. For all that he said he didn't like him, Rodney was pretty nice in a rather Hynerian way and it felt normal in this place full of soldiers and doctors. "So can I? Please?" Looking up, D'argo found Rodney staring at him like he had yesterday after D'argo had told him he didn't try to con him all the time. He was still for five whole microts before he shook out of his surprise.

"You can stay for an hour if you don't talk for the rest of lunch," said Rodney, focusing on his meal again.

"Thanks." Since D'argo would be eating anyway, he didn't mind.

* * *

Eventually a schedule was worked out for Dee that kept Rodney sane and conflict between Dee and Teyla to a minimum. Dee insisted to be a part of the process and somehow negotiated Carson to visits every three days for the first two weeks, with decreasing frequency with increasing age of the injury. Rodney caved pretty easily on mornings spent in the lab but drew the line at any other responsibility. Dee agreed to stay with Teyla in the afternoons, but by the second day of the schedule, if he wasn't watching a movie with Teyla, he was in Rodney's lab drawing and asking questions. Rodney still yelled at him but by the fourth day even Zelenka seemed not to mind his presence.

"I thought you were supposed to be with Teyla," remarked John as Rodney and Dee joined him and Ronon for dinner. Dee grinned and said, "Miko explained the city map to me today. It's huge and we couldn't just stop at midday. Then she showed me the specs for the star drive. You can actually see the drive ports and it's got a really weird exhaust system that redirects the hot gasses from the main engines to run internal systems."

"Cool," John grinned back. Dee was still wary of him, but the false bravado was gone and he was actually friendly if Rodney was around. "Maybe if I have some time tomorrow I can show you the puddlejumpers."

"The little ships? Don't they need that gene thing you all talk about?" Dee looked up at Rodney who nodded.

"The colonel has it in spades."

"What are spades?"

"It means I get a strong response form the Ancient technology," John explained.

"Oh." Dee almost asked something else but then just shrugged. "Teyla's coming with us." The challenge was back but John only smiled and nodded. If there was one thing that he admired in the kid it was his utter insistence at his own safety. Only Teyla and Rodney were certified trustworthy and everyone else was ranked according to their trust in them, which worked out well for John, but the conditional trust only extended in the presence of one or the other. Kate forbade pushing the issue and so far it had paid off. "So what's the difference between the stuff that works with the gene and stuff that doesn't?"

Rodney fielded that one. It was a point of contention between the physicists and the engineers and he never tired of spouting his side of the argument complete with his own pet theories. John and Ronon shared a look at the familiar espousing of ideas that were then cut short by Dee interrupting with demands for how the crystal lattice "wiring" worked anyway. Rodney huffed, but explained anyway in his continuing attempt to overload Dee's head with too much technical information. Dee, however, didn't seem to notice and kept asking questions until Rodney answered just to shut him up.

"You up for a movie tonight?" John asked Ronon under the chatter.

"Jackie Chan?"

"Sure." John still wasn't certain who had gotten him hooked on martial arts but tricks from the three Chan movies available on Atlantis were showing up in training with the marines. "I'll go track down popcorn and Teyla. You just get these guys there."

"A movie?" Dee broke off from Rodney.

"Yep."

"Cool." He smiled at John, bright and blinding, then poked Rodney. "Macro-super-conductors," he prompted.

John left them to it.

* * *

The meeting ended up taking place just outside the village near the crash site. It had been nine days since they'd dug out Dee, five since the scout ship had arrived, and two since the arrival of the primary vessel of the Iyalls with their Consulate. Vanguard Scout Cethandal, the only Iyall who had communicated with Major Lorne, explained that the Consulate was the mission commander who would direct the inquiry although he would not be the negotiator. That was left to a lesser dignitary.

Elizabeth arrived early, in part because of the time difference between the two planets and in part because of pre-meeting jitters. She had stepped away from Lorne and her escort to take a moment to herself. They were in farm country broken up by hills and forests that reminded her of summers at her uncle's in Ohio. The morning stillness was only broken by the roar of engines as the Iyall craft broke the atmosphere and skimmed through the sky to land on the far side of the fallow field. A minute later, six slim, white figures descended and approached. Behind Elizabeth, the soldiers had closed ranks, Lorne to her right.

"Here we go." Elizabeth took a deep breath and walked across the field.

The most remarkable thing, she decided as they met, was how inhuman the Iyalls were for all their similarities. Glossy, mother-of-pearl skin, gill-like structures instead of ears, wide-flat cheekbones, and a bump instead of a nose. They still had two legs and two arms, but their feet were too small and their fingers too few. They had two eyes and they were the most alien thing Elizabeth had seen on this side of the universe.

The Iyalls only had one translator, Vanguard Scout Cethandal, who could understand them thanks to an artificial mechanism somewhere in his brainstem but who was still learning English, albeit rapidly.

"Major Lorne, may I present to you and leader, Speaker Finna." Cethandal bowed and the Speaker inclined his or her head. Elizabeth wasn't sure which despite the long dress that could as easily represent status.

"We are honored," replied Lorne. "I'd like to present our leader, Dr. Weir."

Elizabeth smiled and nodded while Cethandal repeated the introduction in his own language. "Speaker Finna," she said when he was finished. "I hope we may be of assistance."

Finna nodded and probably smiled, though it was hard to tell, and they got down to business. It didn't take long. Lorne and Cethandal had already exchanged the basics of the crash and recovery, minus the details on Dee, so it fell to Elizabeth and Finna to work out the return of the dead Iyall and the cargo.

"Cargo?" Elizabeth raised an eyebrow, not liking the sound of that. Dee had been kidnapped after all and she wasn't about to hand him over.

"A young of your species. Carried in the craft? Cargo, yes?" explained Cethandal.

"We call it a passenger when it is a person," Elizabeth said.

"Is young dead?" Finna asked with what Elizabeth took for concern.

"No, he's not dead. But he was badly injured. We took him into our care to save his life."

Finna smiled in relief. "But he is alive, yes? And can return to us?"

"May I ask why he was with your scout?" Elizabeth asked.

"Our last report before accident say avoid harm to young." Finna bowed her head. "Is difficult situation."

"The boy claims he was kidnapped," said Elizabeth sharply. "Now I will return your dead and the parts of the ship we took, but I will not give you the boy."

That got a response. Finna straightened and spoke sharply and rapidly. "No, you do not understand. Our mission is restitution from young's family. Are criminals wanted on a hundred worlds. Pirates that killed our science ship and stole data and learning. Used stolen learning to kill worlds."

Stunned, Elizabeth listened as Cethandal translated the story of the capture and destruction of an unarmed research vessel from whom a single distress beacon was recovered years later by the Iyalls. By then the destruction wrought by the sensitive data had been done. Planets destroyed and billions dead at the hand of the pirates who sold their services to the highest bidder. No shame, no remorse, now well off and smuggling other stolen goods, their services of destruction no longer offered but stored instead on their ship.

"And the child?" asked Elizabeth. "You took him to force the return of the information on their ship?"

"No," Finna denied. "Young is anomaly, yes? Is changed inside." She tapped her chest as Cethandal said the words and immediately Elizabeth knew they were talking about the genetic manipulation. "To store. To be weapon. Weapon was father, now young."

"Oh God," whispered Lorne. Elizabeth echoed the sentiment, feeling sick to her stomach.

"We take harm from young. Take harm from ship. Is all we can do to make better. Young is innocent and unlucky."

But not unaware, thought Elizabeth, for he had run away from them as soon as he knew they knew of the changes. Even in their ignorance, Dee had made sure that his contact with Carson was limited and free of anything unrelated to his ribs. Dee knew he was different and didn't want anyone to know how. "What will happen to him after you help him?"

"Give back," said Finna.

Elizabeth thought back to Dee curled up on the rec room couch between Rodney and Ronon watching _Drunken Master_ just before she left. He'd come so far from the child they'd had to coax out of the ventilation system. He no longer threatened them with his parents, parents that he loved, that were criminals. Was it right to send him back? Would it be in his best interest to keep him on Atlantis? "I will consider your words carefully," said Elizabeth.

They concluded the talks and made arrangements for the next day. The night shift was on duty when Elizabeth, Lorne's team, and her escort returned. She sent an email calling an early staff meeting then went to bed and lay awake, unable to sleep.

* * *

"I was kidnapped. I already told you. She had a needle to my neck and said Mom could get me back for Moya." Dee looked back and forth between Rodney, Teyla, and Elizabeth, trying to keep them all in sight. They were in the conference room, Elizabeth in her usual seat and Dee between Teyla and Rodney so his head swiveled rapidly from one to the next. He was confused. Miko brought him up from the lab after the senior staff meeting, Sheppard and Carson leaving for this discussion.

There were too many questions left unanswered by Elizabeth's meeting with the fish faced aliens. Foremost in Rodney's mind was how did one make a child a weapon through genetics? They didn't even know what kind of research had been done by the Iyall scientists. Foremost in Elizabeth's was how much did Dee know.

"Dee, I believe you." Elizabeth spoke solemnly in the same tone she used for any weighty discussion. "I spoke with the Iyalls yesterday –"

"The who?"

"The people who took you away from your parents and –"

"You talked to them?" Dee's eyes widened and he pushed back in his chair, jumping to his feet.

"Dee," Teyla grabbed his arm. "Please sit down. They are not here."

"Let go. They kidnapped me!" Dee tried to pull away but Teyla held firm.

"Look, stop it. You're overreacting!" Rodney grabbed his other arm and yanked him back into his seat. This was ridiculous. "They are not here, they are not coming here, and if they did we wouldn't just give you to them. What Elizabeth is trying to say is that there is more going on here than you know, so sit down and shut up."

"Let me go." Dee's stubborn glare was different from his usual wheedling.

"This is useless." Rodney let him slip from his grasp. Rodney had better things to do than manhandle the kid into a brain. "He's obviously not mature enough to handle this," he said to Elizabeth. With a considering gaze, she nodded.

"I think your right," she said. "Looks like we're going to have to discuss what happens to him without him here. Teyla, if you don't mind."

Like a switch, Dee stilled. He shook off Teyla's hand, settled into his seat, and crossed his arms over his painfully thin chest. In the baggy Athosian clothes he looked smaller than he was. At the moment he reminded Rodney of when his cat was in a hiss, ears flat and fur bristled.

"I'll stay, thanks," Dee bit out. "I apologize." The odd formality, like all the other times it had popped up, was startling.

"Thank you," said Elizabeth with a hint of sarcasm.

"Yes, thank you for giving us a moment of your time," Rodney murmured.

Elizabeth ignored him. "Now as I was saying I met the Iyalls yesterday. They told me why they took you. They also told me about your parents."

Dee shifted, looking back and forth. "What about them?"

"They told us your parents are criminals. Is that true?"

"No." The denial was instantaneous with a touch of are-you-stupid.

"Do you know what a criminal is?" asked Rodney.

"Yes! And they aren't. They don't kill people and they don't steal."

Elizabeth lifted an eyebrow. "So your threats . . ."

Dee rolled his eyes. "They don't kill people who don't try to kill them or _me_ first. What did they say about them anyway?"

"They said that about twelve years ago your parents caught an unarmed Iyall research ship, killed everyone on board, and took the data which they then used to kill a lot of people and destroy worlds."

"That's not true," Dee denied again. "There's tons of stories like that and they didn't happen like that."

"They may be stories, but at their heart there may be some truth to them," said Teyla.

"They're not true," cried Dee. "Not really. I've heard them before and they're always twisted. And my parents would never just catch a ship, that's stupid. How would they even do that?"

"Dee, the Iyalls found a distress beacon. I know this might be hard to accept –"

"It's not true!" Dee stood up again but made no other move to leave. "And if they killed them all it was probably because the Yall people tried to kill them first. You don't know their side. You don't _know _anything! You just know what they told you and they're the ones that kidnapped me!"

"Dee –"

"They want me back, don't they? And you're going to give me to them? Hold out for a better price?"

"Dee, calm down," said Teyla laying a hand on his shoulder that he shook off. "We are not giving you away! We are simply telling you what they said."

"You believe them!"

"We don't know what to believe! That's why we're asking you!" said Rodney.

"They're lying!"

"How do you know? You probably weren't even born then."

"Because they wouldn't."

"Oh, yes, convincing evidence."

"They wouldn't! They hate killing people. Those people just want you to hate them so you'll give me back."

"Dee, we're not giving you to them," repeated Elizabeth.

"But you believe them!"

"We don't believe them!" Rodney couldn't believe they had just gone in a circle. "It might shock you to learn that we don't believe everything we're told."

"I don't believe everything I'm told either."

"Yes, we're painfully aware of that. And would you sit down and listen. You're giving me a headache." Dee sat, and Rodney could actually see the bristled fur this time. "Look. The other thing they said that actually concerns us more was that your parents manipulated your genes to turn you into this weapon thing they've been terrorizing your reality with, true or not."

"What?" Dee, for the first time Rodney had known him, was gob smacked. "Are they touched?" Obviously Dee hadn't known about this either.

"They say they took you so they could reverse the genetic modifications," said Elizabeth.

"What?" Dee shook his head, eyes still wide and disbelieving. "I don't have any genetic modifications."

"Dee, you took up residence in a wall when we found out about them," said Rodney.

"They're not _modifications._ I'm not a modification and whatever they told you was a lie."

"Then what is it?" asked Elizabeth reasonably.

"None of your business."

"Dee, if they, or someone, really did manipulate your DNA there could be long term complications that could threaten you life."

"No one did anything to me!" he cried. "I would remember."

"What about when you were a baby or before you were born?" said Rodney. It was like arguing with a wall. "Obviously something happened –"

"My parents had sex." Dee threw up his hands dramatically. The silence that followed was heavy with surprise and Dee froze just realizing what he said. He looked at each of them again, ending with Rodney, fear replacing exasperation. "I didn't say that."

"Dee –"

"You promised you wouldn't hurt me." He stood up again slowly and skittish like he hadn't been since that first day after the ventilation shaft. Wisely, neither Teyla nor Rodney tried to touch him. The boy's hands were clenched into fists and his eyes darted to the door.

"Dee," said Teyla softly and calmly. "No matter what, we will not hurt you. I gave my word to protect you." She gently stretched out her hand palm up. "I will not go back on my word."

"What's wrong with your parents?" asked Rodney. Pieces shifted in his mind: the fear of discovery, the sexual root, the lack of _unnatural_ modification.

"Nothing's _wrong_ with them," hissed Dee. "Nothing's wrong with me."

Recalling what Carson had told them, Rodney doubted that somehow. "No, you're just not entirely human because your parents had sex." But put that way the pieces slid into place, confirmed by Dee's horrified stare. "That's . . . that's . . ." Ludicrous, improbable, yet so was turning into a bug. "Is that even possible?" he asked.

"Rodney?" He barely heard Elizabeth as his mind raced over the possibilities. Given what they knew about Ancient and human descent, and given that the kid claimed to be from a different reality and galaxy, and given that Pegasus was turning out to be the weirdest place ever, it just might be true.

Dee was almost quivering with tension, but it wasn't until Rodney saw his hand rise defensively putting a fork between them that he noticed.

"Oh, put that away," he snapped, fed up with the paranoia. "We're not going to hurt you for being, what, half? Three quarters human?"

"Half," the boy whispered still staring at Rodney. "Two halves of something special."

"Congratulations."

"Half human?" Elizabeth was clearly surprised but she covered it well.

"Please," said Teyla also recovering quickly. "This changes nothing."

"Nothing," Elizabeth repeated firmly. "You are still safe with us here. I think that's enough for now. I'm sorry this has been difficult, but we only want what's best for you."

"You don't care?" Dee didn't let go of his fork or relax.

"It is different," conceded Elizabeth. "But being born different is no reason to treat people differently. We won't treat you differently. Okay?"

"No extra med tests?"

"No." Elizabeth shook her head. "We'll stick to your schedule the way it is. We're really not out to get you."

Dee took a deep breath. "Okay." He lowered the fork and it disappeared up his sleeve. Rodney wondered if another fight with Teyla was in the offering and hoped that he could keep out of it. She didn't say anything on the way to the transporter though. Dee was silent as well, for once not chattering or whining about something, and when they reached the lab he took his pad from its spot on Simpson's bench and retreated to the corner that he normally refused to stay in. As he watched, Rodney wondered if he should do anything but didn't know what. He approached once, but the kid rejected his offer to go see the puddlejumpers before he finished speaking. Rodney left him to his drawing and went back to work.

* * *

Elizabeth was reviewing her notes from yesterday's meeting when Sheppard ambled in. She wasn't leaving for a few more hours, so she set aside her tablet when he sat on her desk.

"I talked to Teyla," he opened. "She said Dee denied everything."

Elizabeth nodded. "He did. And while I have no doubt that he believes everything he said, he's heard some of the same stories."

"You think there's more going on than he knows?"

Elizabeth was certain of it. "If you had a criminal record like that, would you tell your son about it?"

John shook his head. "My parents never told me anything about anything."

"As for him being genetically engineered into a weapon, if it's true, I don't see how we can verify that without losing his trust completely."

"Wait, you think the weapon thing is true?" John raised his eyebrows in surprise.

"I think it's possible. It has happened before." Elizabeth sighed. "As for true, whatever their intentions they did kidnap him."

"He's more likely to trust Beckett than them," said John.

"I hope so." Elizabeth would prefer to keep Dee close and safe. He'd gone through enough without being in real danger already. Whatever danger his parents posed, he obviously loved them and they at least deserved the benefit of the doubt. The thought gave Elizabeth little comfort.

* * *

Elsewhere on the Brink

* * *

It was the calm before battle. The feeling of standing on a ledge before jumping off into the unknown. Aeryn stared at the wormhole and let her emotions take a back seat. Since John would be navigating, he was flying primary in the pod. He was quiet and focused as Pilot relayed the wormhole stability. Sixty percent, seventy-four, eighty. The maw was giant, waiting to swallow them whole. At eighty-seven they went in.

The rough and tumble took hold, rattling the crate of flash grenades and guns on the floor, before John hit the slip stream and everything smoothed out like they weren't moving at all. Ignoring the blue reflections everywhere, Aeryn focused on D'argo's tracer, adjusting and looking for any signal at all. She found one, two, three, but none a perfect match to their signal generator, although they all came from the same branch.

"I've got similar signals. There," she directed John. He missed it but on the next loop, followed it all the way. The signals increased, overflowing from otherwheres and whens. Adjust, filter, pan again, filter, adjust, and then . . . she found it. Two loops and a perfect match each time.

"I've found him!" Quickly, Aeryn interfaced the signal through the pods sensors the same way Pilot did through Moya. One more loop to be certain and on the next they were breaking loose. Black sky, bright stars, watery planet around a small sun, and a strong signal to guide them to ground.

* * *


	6. Six

Six

&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&12

"Can you do that?" Dee bounced and pointed at the screen where two men were battling hand to hand with fast and furious blows.

"Probably."

"Can you do _that_?"

"Yeah, it's a good trick. Not too hard." Ronon shrugged and grinned at Dee who turned abruptly.

"No, you can't really."

"Could show you." Ronon glanced briefly at Teyla over the boy's head, grin still in place. "I could even teach you."

Dee stilled momentarily. "Really?" he asked, surprising Teyla for he had not shown any inclination for learning simple combat from her. In fact, he had run from her when she had tried.

"It's not too hard," Ronon repeated.

"Naw, I don't believe you," Dee shook his head but it was with a teasing smile, his head tilted back in the way of careless children. It was good to see. It had been two days since the revelation of his heritage and Dee had been distant since, even with Rodney. He had been quiet at meals and sullen with Teyla, casting about suspicious eyes and questioning every action. Teyla had ignored it as best she could and hoped that her example would convince him that they really would not harm him. When he had greeted Ronon at lunch, it had been like a saving grace. Dee was difficult at the best of times, but unhappy and distrustful he was like a wild animal waiting to escape. That he had escaped before was lost on no one, including the child.

"I can," Ronon insisted.

"You just talk big," said Dee. "I bet you're not really a fighter at all. I bet you're a farmer."

Ronon threw back his head and laughed, another rare sight that Teyla's heart was glad to see.

"Do I look like a farmer to you?" he asked playfully. "Willing to work long hours in the dirt grubbing for food?"

Dee scrutinized Ronon, picking over his brown patchy vest and his dreaded hair. The boy's lips quirked. "Maybe not. But Jothee's dad was a farmer _and_ a great warrior so you could be."

"What do you think, Teyla? Would I make it as a farmer?"

Knowing her friend as she did, Teyla knew he would never survive the growing season. "I think you would make a terrible farmer."

"See?" Ronon waved a finger at the boy.

"You're just young and impatient," said Dee with the weight of often heard words beyond his years that only made Ronon laugh again. "And I bet you still can't do that flippy thing."

By the way Ronon was looking around the room, Teyla knew exactly what he was thinking and she said quickly, "Not in here." The inevitable mess would likely involve destroying the furniture. "We'll go to the gym if you are intent on making fools of yourselves."

"Don't think I can do it either?" Ronon raised a challenging brow.

Deliberately, Teyla gave him a once over. "No," she said and raised a brow of her own that led to more grinning and a silent promise for their next sparing session.

"I don't want to go to the gym," Dee interrupted them, bouncing in his seat once more. He had too much energy that hadn't been spent on exciting things with Rodney or running down the corridor and back while Teyla walked. She had learned quickly to take the longer routes between places. "This is fun. Oh drad! Can you do _that_?" He pointed again to the screen where a man had just jumped from one high building to another and rolled to his feet and kept running.

"Maybe. Never done anything like it before."

"Would you try it? It's a pretty big jump."

Ronon shrugged. "In the right circumstances."

"Would you jump off a cliff?"

"Depends on what's below and how far."

"A river?"

"Probably."

"A roof?"

"If it weren't too far."

"Ishen trees?"

"What are they?"

"They're neat. They're the only tall standing tree that you can make clothes out from the stuff they have instead of leaves."

"What are the branches like?"

"Long and bendy."

"Okay."

"You'd jump into Ishen trees?" Dee giggled and bounced again. "What about rocks?"

"Only if were a short distance."

"You'd jump into rocks! I bet you'd break your legs and ankles and feet," he said excitedly. "I wouldn't jump into rocks or anything except the ocean. Would you jump into the ocean?"

"If not from too far," Ronon repeated.

"Would you jump into the ocean from up here?"

"That," Ronon tilted his head seriously, "would be too far."

"What if it was the only way to save your life? What if you were running from those wraith things you all talk about?"

"Dee," Teyla said gently as he strayed into uncomfortable territory. While unashamed, it was a topic that Ronon tended to avoid and one she didn't want to have to explain.

"Do they really eat you all?" he asked abruptly, looking between them. Teyla shared a look with Ronon and watched his smile fade.

"Yes," she said softly. "They draw out a person's life force until they are too aged to survive."

"Can you kill them if they keep eating life?"

"Yes, but it is difficult," said Teyla.

Dee had stopped bouncing. "But you can kill them, I bet." His blue eyes held the question that his words did not.

Teyla met and held his gaze. "Yes."

"How?"

"Guns, bullets, stunners," said Ronon. "Knives and staves. Bare hands if you have to."

"I'll stick to jumping into the ocean," said Dee so seriously that Teyla couldn't help but smile. "Would that flippy thing work against them?" he asked Ronon who's lips twitched and nodded. "What about if you hit it with a car or a _smallcraft_." Dee's eyes lit up as his imagination took hold. "I bet it would go splat if you hit it with a puddlejumper."

"The wraith have their own spaceships," Ronon raised skeptical brows.

"Everyone has their own spaceships," Dee rolled his eyes. "But they'd still go splat if you hit them and they weren't in a ship."

"They would," Teyla couldn't argue with that logic. "But they rarely leave the safety of their ships."

"How would you get them out?" Ronon challenged, and to Teyla's surprise, and Ronon's if his sudden blinking and shifting out of harm's way was anything to go by, Dee started bouncing again, this time with his feet drawn up under him.

"Ooh," he glanced back and forth between them. "What do I know about them? Have I seen them before? Do I know what you know?" The movie was utterly forgotten as a dozen questions and an impatient "come on, tell me! What's the situation? How much time do I have? Where am I when they come?" came spilling forth.

Uncertain, Teyla told him what they knew about the wraith but it was Ronon who ended up setting the scene with details including numbers of hiveships and what Dee had to work with. It was enthralling to watch what Teyla could only describe as a thought game began to play out between them. Until a few minutes later when a strange sound from very close by silenced them. It didn't sound like it had come from the television.

Ronon sat up sharply. Dee stared at his wrist, barely breathing, where his necklace was now tied as a bracelet. "Dargoikfelian''hksilan''hk." The garbled sound was clearly coming from the bracelet.

"Mom!" Dee shouted, hysterical, loud, and so full of joy, Teyla could feel it in her skin. Dee was off the couch and around the room shouting, "Mom, mom, I'm here, I safe, I'm felissiha''hktalbin . . ." he broke into the strange language and a moment later they all heard the sob of relief from the woman on the other side, overlapping words over words, a man's voice that might have been English, but indistinguishable all the same.

Teyla had little time to worry about it however, as at that moment, the command radio channel burst to life asking Colonel Sheppard and Dr. McKay to report to the control tower immediately. "Guess they're really here," murmured Ronon. Teyla nodded and knowing they would be needed in the control tower as well, she turned back to collect Dee just in time to see him run out the door. Ronon cursed and leapt after him, Teyla quick on their heels.

"They're here! I just want to see them!" Dee protested as Ronon quickly caught and scooped him up. The boy struggled and kicked his legs, eliciting a few grunts from Ronon but no looser grip about his arms and torso.

"'You will see them. I promise. But you must stay with us." Ronon set him down gently and carefully let him stand and turn with his wrists still captured. "We can't protect you if you run off."

Before Dee could answer, however, his mother spoke again over his radio. "She wants to talk to who's in charge," Dee translated.

Teyla smiled with reassurance. "Then we best go see Dr. Weir."

&&&&&&&

When they had first brought Dee back with them, Elizabeth figured he would probably end up living with the Athosians. When he insisted that his parents were coming, she thought it would be a simple matter of reuniting a happy family. Now, after speaking with the Finna and seeing two different wanted beacons and images of an asteroid field that had once been a planet, Elizabeth was less certain. She knew that the Iyalls were trying to convince her to hand Dee over, but she couldn't doubt the veracity of the documents, on different machines and in audibly different alien languages that she doubted the Iyalls had tampered with. Even if they had, she didn't know enough to dismiss them out of hand or discern what was true. And now, she didn't know what to do about it if it was true. Would she be sending Dee back into an exploitative and potentially abusive situation? Would he be a criminal by the time he was fifteen?

And if it wasn't, what she read between the lines when Finna spoke of sacrifice and the greater good of the universe left her with a sinking feeling in her stomach every time she passed through the Esean village.

It was a situation that had too many solutions and none of them good. What Elizabeth did know was that Dee loved his parents and wanted to go back to them as soon as possible. They didn't have the right to take that away from him. At this moment, Dee was bouncing with so much excitement that Ronon's arm was getting a workout from reining him in.

"This is Dr. Elizabeth Weir," Elizabeth spoke into the golden brown communications device. For some reason they couldn't establish a link with either their own or Atlantis's communications array.

"Aeryn Sun," a woman's rich voice enunciated slowly. "You have my son in your care." She spoke English carefully and precisely in tones of a second language.

"Yes, that's correct. He survived a shuttle crash on another planet. We took him in and treated his wounds," Elizabeth explained. "We understand that you are from a different reality?"

"Yes. And you are humans living in a different galaxy," Dee's mother sounded a little skeptical. "We would like our son back."

"And we'd like to meet you," Elizabeth countered. "We promised Dee we would protect him and we take that very seriously."

There was a long pause during which Elizabeth exchanged a look with John. In the background she could hear Dee protesting to Ronon that this was all unnecessary. Finally, Dee's mother asked, "What are your terms?"

"We just want to verify that you are who you say you are," Elizabeth tried to soothe away the wariness. "You may land on the east pier and I'll send an escort to meet you. I have to ask that you come unarmed."

"We will land shortly. Dargoitahll''hkmayanof''hkfode?"

Dee glanced at Elizabeth then John, wary but challenging. Elizabeth returned the necklace come bracelet and he spoke rapid fire in his other language full of clicks and aspirations. Five languages and none of them the one she needed. She heard Rodney and Teyla's names mentioned, as well as her own and John's. Dee looked at her askance and she forced a smile and looked away wanting to know just what he was telling them about Atlantis and wishing she could stop him without losing whatever edge of goodwill she had.

&&&&&&&&&&

"D'argo, these people helped you? Really?"

John focused on flying. He focused on Little Dee's rush of excited babble across the comms about the _humans_ he'd ended up with.

"She's okay. I don't see her much except when she tries to make me do stuff but they've mostly backed off when I said no."

Who were from Earth. In the Pegasus Galaxy. He hadn't noticed anything in the wormhole, but then the inside was either a rollercoaster ride or an iceberg with too many places and times and dimensions to process till you were there. He could still smell the memory of the wormhole.

"And Rodney's great. He's got all this cool stuff and lets me look at it even though he says he doesn't like me. And I stay with Teyla and she's okay."

Every time his head balked at _humans_ on another planet in another galaxy, at least according to Dee and he was one smart kid, John kept flashing to every other reality he'd seen, how different and convoluted and holy frell, he didn't want to think about where this one had split off.

"The Colonel hasn't tried anything, and the soldiers don't act much like soldiers – they're nice to me, kinda like the Luxans except with less drinking – and did you know that they come in different colors? All the humans? There's one with _red_ hair. And they don't have microbes. Or dentics. But they have _movies_."

That startled a chuckled out of John, and he felt something shake loose inside, because that was Little D'argo, his boy, chattering happy and above all safe. To him, these humans were as alien as anyone he'd ever met, and John knew that they'd be alien to him, too.

"They have a lot of them. There's a lot of _them_."

Different space, different timeline, anything was possible. He shared a look with Aeryn who was caught between grinning and worried as all hell. As he broke orbit and floored the engines, he saw her take a deep breath, close her eyes, and let everything go for a second before pulling it all in under control.

"And they keep telling me that I'm safe with them and won't ever hurt me, so I think . . . I think . . ."

"It's all right, D'argo," said Aeryn, all calm and confidence. "We're coming."

John found the landing pad where a bunch of men with guns were waiting for them and set the pod down, light as a feather. Aeryn was already on her feet, rocking with the landing and stripping off her obvious weapons. John joined her and unholstered Winona setting her next to the crate by the door. A few moments and a quick kiss later and they were ready.

&&&&&&&&&&&

Their ship was bigger than a jumper, tan and buglike. There was no windshield and no obvious door until stairs unfolded from the side. A woman descended first followed by a man, Dee's parents, neither smiling, and both dressed head to toe in black leather. Their eyes were everywhere even as they kept their hands visible, tracing over the squad of marines behind John before settling on him and Teyla. John could see in the way they moved they were soldiers, fighters, and even after hearing the reports from the Iyalls, nothing like John was expecting.

"Howdy," he said putting on his best face cheerfully and with a smile. "Welcome to Atlantis. I'm Lieutenant Colonel John Sheppard and this is Teyla Emmagan."

"Captain Aeryn Sun," responded Dee's mother, stepping forward and eyeing Teyla. She nodded her head toward her companion. "This is Commander Crichton. We are unarmed as you requested." She and Crichton both kept their hands up and open and swung so their long coats revealed empty holsters strapped low to the thigh. "You can search us if you like."

John nodded for Peters to do so. "Sorry about this, but we'd rather be safe than sorry. I'm sure you understand." He smiled apologetically but neither one of them seemed to mind as they were quickly frisked. They stood still and unnervingly silent until Peters stepped back with a nod. "Right this way."

As the pair drew abreast of him and Teyla, Crichton asked, "D'argo's okay?" and it took John a moment to attach the name to Dee through the stare he was getting from the man. Sharp blue eyes, a frown that demanded answers, and tension underlying everything.

John nodded and put every note of reassurance he could into his voice. "He's just fine. Missing you."

"You said he survived a shuttle crash?" said Sun crisply with a pointed look in John's direction. Her face was more angular but just as demanding as she cut to the point.

"He was, but we got him back here and patched up. He's been running Teyla here ragged for the last week or so."

"He had a few broken ribs from the crash but is mostly recovered now," Teyla interjected, calm and serene and earning a sharp look from both Sun and Crichton.

"Broken ribs?" repeated Sun coming to a halt. They were still on the pier and her face was cast into the shadow of her hair. "Were there any complications? Can he breathe all right? No problems with circulation?"

"Our doctor's got it covered," soothed John turning to face them as they exchanged a look loaded with conversation.

"Military doctor?" asked Crichton, hands braced on his hips.

"Civilian," said Sheppard seeing where this was going. "Scottish."

"You will be able to speak with Dr. Beckett soon," Teyla added. "He is very good and you have nothing to fear."

"Forgive us if it's been a thirty eight days since he was kidnapped from us and we find out he has broken ribs," snapped Crichton. He took an angry step forward into her personal space. "I don't know you so don't tell me not to be afraid."

"I did not mean to offend you," said Teyla softly as Sun pulled Crichton back gently and eyed John whose hand had automatically gone for his sidearm. There was no gentleness in her eyes and absolutely no fear of him whatsoever. A captain and a commander. Two people used to giving the orders instead of taking them. It was little wonder that Dee was always threatening to sic his parents on them.

"Hey now, why don't we get to the control room so you can talk to the doc and Dr. Weir," said John somewhere between amused starting to worry. They were unarmed, true, but that mama bear glare from Sun left him little doubt that she would tear him to pieces in a heartbeat. "Dee's up there too, and you can see for yourself that he's okay."

Crichton took a deep breath and visibly pulled himself together. Suddenly seeing the stress and fatigue, John could only imagine what the two of them had been going through since their kid disappeared. Though thirty eight days? It hadn't nearly been that long.

"Sorry," Crichton nodded to Teyla. "It's been a rough month."

"Think nothing of it," Teyla inclined her head in turn while Sun frowned. John decided he definitely wasn't seeing things when she placed herself firmly between Crichton and his teammate as they resumed walking. Crichton didn't seem to notice and, in fact, stopped short not ten steps later.

"Did you say Atlantis?"

&&&&&&&&&&

Aeryn ignored the blather around her. John's rapid questions about an Earth story and the Colonel's responses faded to background noise as they continued inside toward D'argo. They were so close. Close and in circumstances Aeryn could never have predicted, but didn't bother thinking about because it was irrelevant. D'argo was here and he was safe and for all that he was young, she trusted his judgment. It was the humans all about that she didn't trust, and in John's friendly conversation, Aeryn could hear the undercurrent of manic energy in his voice that betrayed his nervousness. It was all happening too easily and too quickly and she just wanted her son back. When they entered the transporter thing that would take them to D'argo, she only had to move her hand a dench behind the folds of their coats before it was safely clasped in John's.

The transporter doors opened without her having felt a thing, but the hallway had more people who stared curiously as they exited. There were more soldiers as well, but their weapons were held loosely and they were merely watchful. Sheppard nodded to one as they passed into a large hall with a vaulted ceiling and a grand staircase to the second level. There were soldiers on the ground floor, relaxed at their posts, and a host of others in uniform on the upper level. All eyes were on them and then there was a shriek of joy that could only come from one boy.

"Mom! Dad!" D'argo shook off the tall man beside him and raced around a corner and down the steps, stumbling over his own feet as she and John ran to greet him. Aeryn didn't quite believe it until he was in her arms, small and slender and smelling of soap and boyness. D'argo's arms latched around her neck and he kept repeating "I knew you'd come I knew you'd come I knew you'd come," into her shoulder. John wrapped himself around them both, touching D'argo's hair, her own, and she let him do the talking for the both of them, reassuring and relieved.

"Look at you," Aeryn finally pulled back and let go enough for D'argo to hug his father properly. She ran a hand through his unkempt hair brushing down over the baggy brown clothing. She couldn't stop the smile on her face or the tears that sprang up at seeing him safe and whole.

"You all right, Little Dee?" asked John, his voice rough. "We heard you were in a shuttle crash." He gave D'argo some space and started running his hands over his chest checking his ribs. Aeryn's hands mirrored his on D'argo's head.

"I'm mostly fine now," D'argo said but didn't push their hands away as he normally might. Instead he held onto them, one hand one each of their arms. Aeryn pulled him in again, careful of his ribs, and never wanted to let go.

"We were so worried," she said, her voice soft and breaking into his ear.

"I tried to take care of myself," D'argo whispered. "But I think I was lucky."

"Luck'll only get you so far. Gotta get yourself the rest of the way" replied John. "We're so proud of you."

They stay in the cocoon of their own soft voices for another minute before movement on the stairs above interrupted. A woman in red and the man who'd been with D'argo earlier both stood on the landing watching their reunion. They looked friendly enough, smiling and with empty hands, but Aeryn knew better than to take anything at face value. She rose to her feet as she met the woman's eyes, feeling more than seeing her son sink into John's embrace.

"Welcome to Atlantis. I'm Doctor Elizabeth Weir," said the woman. She stood tall and confident, and Aeryn recognized her voice from earlier. "Perhaps we should continue in the conference room?"

There were three tables in the conference room set in a rough circle. Sheppard, Emmagen, the man Dex, and two newcomers, McKay and Beckett, joined them. From their short conversation she knew D'argo liked and trusted the first and feared the second. Beckett didn't look like much, but Aeryn knew what nightmares her son could conjure without anyone to turn up the lights. She also knew how true those nightmares could become.

"Thank you for taking care of D'argo," she said when everyone was settled. The three of them were seated behind the table closest to the door, D'argo in John's lap despite his mild protests. "Can you tell us what happened?" It was Aeryn's turn to be in charge as much as she'd rather be holding her boy right now. She and John tried to play to their strengths, by turns Good Cop/Bad Cop or Bad Cop/Crazy Cop as the situation demanded. Aeryn was always the Bad Cop, and as Moya's captain these days, the one to usually greet strangers first to give them time to figure out what role John would play.

As Weir explained D'argo's discovery on another planet and Beckett his injuries, Aeryn tried not to think about how close they had come to losing him forever. They still lived on the edge with half of each cycle spent on Moya, but it was a sheltered edge that didn't often result in kidnapping or shooting or shuttle crashes. That much anyaway.

"But they're healing clean?" she asked after Beckett finished his summary.

"Yes, quite well all things considered. I was more worried about the internal bleeding given the differences in anatomy, but that has cleared up as well." He didn't quite meet her eyes and she didn't need D'argo's whisper to John in sebacean about scanners to tell her what they knew. Remembering their trip to Earth, she fixed Weir with a hard stare.

"Yes, I am an _alien_," she said conscious of her empty thigh holster. "Considering D'argo is still alive and I am not a prisoner, I expect I will remain unharmed."

"What!" Her words made a stir as all the humans protested at once until Weir settled them. "We would never do any such thing," she said stridently. "You are not the first alien we have ever met and if you were I would _never_ allow such an action. I don't know where you come from but you do not have to fear that from us."

"Just fear regular kinds of things?" asked John, speaking for the first time.

Sheppard gave them a smile that wasn't really a smile. "Well, as long as you don't threaten us, we won't threaten you. That way everyone's happy."

"They've been talking to the people who took me," said D'argo in sebacean. All eyes turned to him but he ignored them for hers. "They believe the stories about the war and they think you made me into the weapon."

Aeryn closed her eyes. "Frell."

"Okay, we've officially stayed here too long. Let's wrap this up," said John, false cheer propelling him and D'argo to their feet. "It's been fun. Ancient myths come to life and all that."

"I'm sorry, did we miss something?" asked Weir raising an eyebrow.

"Thank you for taking care of our son," Aeryn ignored the question and stood as well. "We'll go now and get out of your way."

"Why the sudden rush?" asked McKay in clear confusion. "You just got here."

"And we got what we came for," said John. "We don't want any trouble, hypothetical or otherwise."

"Dr. Weir, Dr. McKay" a uniformed man leaned into the conference room. "We just picked up another wave and another ship. Appeared just like theirs." There was a collective breath and then the humans jumped to their feet and moved into the other room. It only took a moment for Aeryn and John to follow, Aeryn glaring at both the guard and her husband.

"Did you have to say that?" she asked.

"Me and Murphy's Law," he sighed. "I knew I shouldn't have opened my big mouth."

"You should have let me find you," said D'argo. "I could have snuck out."

That would have been a very good idea if her son didn't happen to be surrounded by a keeper and armed soldiers. "Too much of a risk."

The officers were gathered around a radar screen to the side of the control center. McKay sat at a terminal, two dimensions of flickering lines and unreadable script before him. "Its energy signature matches that of the Iyall ship," he said. "Only it's much bigger."

"Who are the Iyalls?" Aeryn earned herself six stares.

"I thought you knew," said Weir. "They're the aliens that took Dee."

"And they came through another wormhole?" demanded John abruptly. Aeryn knew that tone and it only meant bad things.

"If that's what you're calling the electromagnetic distortion field that preceded your arrival," said McKay.

John ignored him and asked Weir. "Have they been here before? Lil' Dee said you were talking with them."

"No, they haven't," replied Weir. "We've been speaking to them on another planet."

"John? Could they have followed us?" Aeryn was unsure what to make of the stargate looming below. The humans had explained that they used it to get to the planet where D'argo had been found but little else.

"With what?" asked John. "They sure as hell weren't in Gopherspace when we got there and there's no way they cracked Lady Marmalade on Toast."

At least no one had yet broken the scrambled Leviathan mating call they used in the children's homing beacons. "What if they were invisible?"

"Captain Sun?" said Weir when John went quiet. The others were staring waiting for an explanation. John, however, frowned and instead leaned over McKay's shoulder to look at the readings. "Are you sure they haven't opened a wormhole here before?" he asked.

"Yes, we're sure," snapped McKay. "I think we would have noticed if a distortion showed up above our planet. Oh, wait. We did."

"Frell!" John looked up, grim. "They must have been waiting for us. Somewhere."

Aeryn felt the blood drain from her face like the shock of water. Frell was right, and they should have realized it from the beginning. It was one thing to have D'argo kidnapped, another to have been traced here. They had found them once, found them here again within an arn of their arrival.

"You were followed?" asked McKay.

"Yes," John's voice bit out in anger she knew was not directed at her. "Closely. Or they were waiting in the wormhole. There's no way they could have punched through without us going first. No one gets the timing that right, I don't care what kind of machines they have." He spun away, hand going to his head. "Twelve frelling cycles."

"Captain Sun," Weir's voice crackled, snapping Aeryn back to the humans in this far different reality. "What exactly is going on?"

"D'argo, go with John," she pushed her son toward his father who needed something to hold on to at the moment. D'argo nodded and ducked under John's arm pulling it around himself. John dropped a kiss to his head and held him close. She knew exactly what he was feeling because it was in the pit of her stomach as well. Twelve cycles and the Pathfinders, or whatever they called themselves, had still come after them. Lain in wait for them to come after D'argo. Aeryn had the sudden urge to run, familiar and sickening after so many years of relative peace. Her thoughts went to Moya where Zhannah was alone save for Pilot and Norianti. If they had been followed from their home reality . . .

"Captain?"

"Dr. Weir, message coming through."

Weir gave Aeryn a lingering look before tearing her gaze away. "Put it through."

"Humans of Atlantis, you harbor known criminals. We request return."

Aeryn inhaled sharply, waiting for the axe to fall as John would say. But it didn't. It fell on Weir and stopped short.

"To harbor criminals is acceptance of same crime. Is punished with death. Return or be guilty."

Weir turned to her with an inquiring tilt of her head. The other officers stared as well and Aeryn was very conscious of the soldiers all around. They were trapped on this island with nowhere to run.

&&&&&&&&&&&&

"All right, start explaining." Elizabeth was seated behind her desk with John standing to the left arms crossed on his chest. Across from them sat Captain Sun looking back and forth between them not at all at ease.

"Look, I appreciate that you don't know us, but they're lying."

The past twenty minutes had consisted of some of the fastest talking Elizabeth had done since negotiating two nukes from the Genii. The situation was simple: the Iyalls wanted Sun and Crichton for murder or they would destroy the civilian populations on the mainland and on Esea. She had talked them down to letting her mediate a discussion which ended up sounding more like a trial. Tomorrow. On Atlantis. She couldn't wait. Which left her with one pair of anxious and possibly homicidal guests and a boy she promised to protect caught in the middle.

"Forgive me for not knowing who to trust here, Captain." The whole situation had left the realm of frustrating for truly pissed off. "While I won't hesitate to question their motives especially now that they've threatened my people and our allies, the Iyalls have shown me some pretty convincing evidence that your not just harmless travelers either."

Sun's lips twisted into a mockery of a smile. "Considering that they were trying to kill us the first time we met them, you frelling right we fought back."

"They claim you attacked a science vessel, murdered the crew, and stole their data," said Elizabeth.

"Of course they did," muttered Sun. "They're lying."

"So what did happen?"

"Their ship crashed into Moya on the edge of a wormhole, did something that made them fuse. We all got thrown into the wall of a wormhole. They tried to kill Moya, then us, to save their ship. We won. They died. And Zhaan . . . sacrificed herself to separate the ships so we wouldn't all die."

"And the stolen data?" asked John.

"They think it's on Moya."

"That's your ship." John frowned.

"Yes."

"You said they tried to kill . . . your ship?"

Sun, to Elizabeth's surprise, rolled her eyes. "Moya's a Leviathan, alive, biomechanoid. So yes, they were trying to murder her."

Elizabeth sat back in her chair to absorb this side of the argumennt. An accident and two groups vying for their own version of survival. A living ship was hardly surprising at this point. "And the terrorism?"

"Terrorism?" The Captain frowned, confused.

"You blew up a planet," Elizabeth clarified. "Allegedly."

"You're in no position to judge us," said Sun harshly. "Did the Pathfinders mention there was a war going on then? Are you going to condemn us for every person we killed in battle?" Elizabeth sat forward again but the Captain cut her off before she could respond. "You're scared of us. You think we have this planet exploding weapon, or that D'argo's it or something equally stupid." She stood up and encompassed John in her hard gaze as well. "As long as you leave me, my husband, and my son alone, you have nothing to fear from us. Harm them, and I will kill you."

"We won't. I give you my word." Elizabeth stood as well. Sun was utterly still, tense and serious. She meant every word she said and had none of the cockiness Elizabeth was used to seeing when she was threatened. She found herself respecting Sun for that.

The Captain glanced at John who also nodded. "We'll stay through the meeting. See what they want and be on our way. We can stay in the pod if it will make you more comfortable."

"We have more than enough room to spare. I'll arrange for someone to show you around."

"You'll have an escort assigned to you as well," added John. "They'll be with you at all times."

"Right. Because we'd blow up your planet with us still on it, wouldn't we?"

Caught off guard, Elizabeth hid her amusement at the look the other woman gave John that could have come from Rodney. "We give all our guests an escort," she said.

"As a captain, I'm sure you understand," smiled John just shy of patronizing.

Sun snorted. "Don't worry. I wouldn't trust me either." With a final nod, she left. John radioed Lorne about getting a couple marines on duty as they watched Sun join Crichton and Dee on the bottom step to the gate level. Father and son both looked up and listened as she spoke.

"Well?" she asked.

"Well, they're either lying and we're stuck guarding essentially two terrorists who will do whatever it takes to protect their family, or they're telling the truth and we're stuck guarding two soldiers who will do whatever it takes to protect their family." John raised his eyebrows pointedly. "I'm not sure which is worse."

Elizabeth smiled humorlessly. She'd seen it in Sun's eyes too, that spark of honest and deadly determination. Her fears from first impressions had nothing on that gaze. It reminded her of every fairy tale and news story where love came out the stronger force, a force of nature that swept away anything that got in its way, leaving a path of destruction in its wake.

&&&&&&&&&&&&&

"We really can't go home?" D'argo asked when Mom was done explaining that they would stay through the meeting with his kidnappers. He wished they weren't, he wished that they were in the pod and already going home where he could see Zhaanah and Granny and Pilot and sleep in his own bed and not be in this cold place anymore.

"They'll keep coming after us if we don't solve this now," said Dad. "Besides, you can show us all the cool stuff you've been doing."

"I don't _want_ to," D'argo twisted to face him but got caught as Dad pulled him close. He was warm and smelled of leather and a little like Moya and Mom and chakken oil and it all made everything inside him clench up. "I wanna go home."

"I know, Lil' Dee, I know," Dad kissed the top of his head. "But we don't always get what we want."

D'argo hated it when he said that. "Why do they care about us? Why does everyone always want something from us?" It wasn't fair and it was always something. "Why don't people leave us alone?"

"They do," said Mom. At D'argo's look she grinned. "It used to be much worse."

"Before the war?"

"And after it for a while, when you were a baby," Mom replied. "But we got through it, and we'll get through this."

"It's not fair. And don't say 'life isn't fair,'" he added as he felt Dad chuckle behind him and Mom smile again. "I hate it when you say that because it should be."

"All right, we won't," said Dad, ruffling his hair this time. "But there's no use fretting over it 'cause –"

"That's the way it is, I know," D'argo sighed.

"Come on." Mom grabbed his hand and pulled him to his feet, extending a hand to Dad, too. "Let's grab our guards and find something to eat. Norianti's been making nothing but soup since you went missing."

"Aww, sorry," said D'argo because while Granny was a good cook, everyone knew she spit in the soup no matter how many times Dad yelled at her not to. Consequently, it was a meal often avoided and often turned into a base for medicines or drugs.

"They have anything good here?" asked Dad.

"Yeah," said D'argo wondering where to start. He liked most of their food and he began listing his favorites as they headed for the door. Two soldiers smiled at him and nodded when Mom mentioned going to the mess, one led and one followed them to the transporter. It was kind of weird, but D'argo recognized them and since he didn't have to worry about them with his parents there he ended up asking them for names of things he'd forgotten or never learned. Dad, surprisingly, actually knew what a lot of the food was, and Mom knew some of it, and soon it was just like at home, with Dad saying "potatoes and curry are like chocolate and peanut butter," and Mom saying she liked them with mustard and both of them arguing and asking him which he liked better. Like Dad's arms around him, it was warm and familiar, like a blanket he could burrow beneath to keep out the dreams of monsters at night. With them, where he belonged, everything finally felt right.

&&&&&&&&&&&


	7. Seven

For a Pocketful

AN: I hated writing this chapter. I apologize for the long delay wich was half RL and half me avoiding a scene. Which was written. And rewritten. And edited. And then ripped out and written again. And then other scenes said, hey look at us again, twist this, change that. And the characters were like, "we have Important Things To Say," and it ended up being horribly long. So yeah. I hope this chapter satisfies. If I don't update before Aug 7 (and it is unlikely that I will have 8 done by then) then don't expect an update until September as I'll be computerless for two weeks.

Thanks to my beta CynthiaCombs for her help.

See Part 1 for story notes.

* * *

Seven

* * *

"That," McKay shoved a blinking black square in John's face, "is not a wormhole." The guy had shown up out of one of the transporter thingies just as they left dinner for a belated medical check. In all the excitement of the Pathfinders arrival, Weir and everyone had forgotten the DNA testing, which had been quite fine with John and Aeryn. Enough of the universe had tested and screened their genes as it was. 

"No," John agreed blinking, "and it's too flat to be a breadbox." It looked like laptop without a keyboard which was a little disconcerting.

"It's a tablet," Lil' Dee grabbed it out of McKay's hand, grinning. "It's got a processor and you can do tons of things on it."

"Yes, thank you, Mr. Science." McKay grabbed the tablet back and waved it once more at John's face. "The _data_," he said pointedly, "show that that wave you came out of couldn't have been a wormhole." John took the computer thing this time and actually looked at the red and green frequency graph and the lines of numbers and equations in the next window as McKay went on. "Crossing between universes via a wormhole is possible but only occurs under very exact conditions. Now, I'm thinking quantum rift of some sort, though how you formed one in space with no entropy outflow –"

John cut him off by handing back the tablet to the man's stomach. "I have no idea what this says, but it was a wormhole."

"No," McKay drawled the word out like he was talking to an idiot. "It wasn't. And if you had two brain cells to rub together you can clearly see that your wave was not a stable wormhole."

"Maybe your readings are wrong," said John, but McKay only scoffed.

"They're not wrong. First of all –"

"You know what?" John cut him off before he could get started. He didn't want to talk about wormholes. When he'd made the promise to himself way back when that the rest of his life would be too soon to bring them up again, he hadn't been kidding. "I really don't care. Believe what you want." He and Aeryn had much bigger problems now that they were stuck here with more people intent on hunting them down until they gave in, and given how well that always turned out, John did not have time to think about wacky laptops.

"Fine, I will. Why? Because I'm right." His disdain for John's opinion was clear. "Unfortunately, I need to know what it was so that I can stop more Iyalls and whomever else from popping up in our solar system ready to blast us to hell. You are going to tell me how you got here. I realize thinking may pose a challenge, but your kid isn't a complete idiot so I have hopes for you exceeding my very low expectations. So start talking."

"You this nice to everyone you meet?"

"Yes, because manners matter so much when saving lives," was the sarcastic reply.

"He usually yells and calls people monkeys and toadstools because their work is shit," said Dee with a grin. "Those are funguses and monkeys are animals that share 97 of the human genome. So you're more like a monkey than I am," he laughed. "That makes me and mom smarter."

"Damn right," Aeryn grinned while McKay rolled his eyes.

"That is completely untrue," he began and John watched fascinated as he gave a whole rant on nature versus nurture and the failure of school systems, and did they understand that he had better and more important things to be doing like, oh yes, keeping them from getting destroyed from space. "So you shut up and stop being annoying," he jabbed a finger at D'argo, "and you control your child," the finger moved to Aeryn who bristled, "and you start talking," he ended on John.

There was a moment of silence, then Aeryn said, "If you wave you finger in my face again, I'll break it."

"See, he's just like Rygel!" said D'argo happily. McKay lifted his chin defiantly but nevertheless took a step away from them.

"Except for being human, white, and four feet taller," John nodded. He did see the resemblance, if he squinted, and he could see why D'argo liked the guy so much with his forceful personality and brutal honesty. Honest was one thing Rygel had always been with D'argo, treating him in some ways better than the frog prince-lets.

"I thought you said he was your uncle?" McKay sent an inquisitive look to John and Aeryn who shared their own look and amused smiles.

"More like surrogate mother," said Aeryn with the devil's own grin and McKay flushed and visibly decided not to ask.

"Yes well, your . . . practices aside, I still need to know how you got here."

"Look, there's nothing you can do to stop someone who knows what they're doing from following a signal here," John said seriously. "And collapsing the wormhole is impossible." A lie that John had no intention of correcting until he and his family were safely on the other side.

"It's not a wormhole," insisted McKay.

John dropped his arms from where they'd ended up across his chest and rolled his eyes. "Believe what you want. I've told you what you wanted to know."

McKay spluttered, "Which is absolutely nothing!"

"Which is that there's nothing you can do," Aeryn cut in. "Besides no one else will come through."

"And just how do you know that, hmm?" McKay crossed his arms challengingly.

"Because we are already here and they need us to get to Moya." Aeryn pushed past McKay toward the transporter, leaving the man mulling that over. John and D'argo followed with their escort who were trying not to look amused. When they were all crammed in and the door closed to whisk them away, John tapped Dee on the shoulder.

"You really like him?"

"Yep." Dee's eyes sparkled happily.

"Huh."

* * *

When Teyla opened her door to the knock she was surprised to see Dee and his parents on the other side. "Captain Sun. Commander Crichton." 

"D'argo wanted to get his things," said the dark haired woman by way of greeting. She didn't smile, though her husband did, and her eyes bore into Teyla without a hint of warmth. The threats issued by Dee on their behalf did not seem so distant now, and were not buffered by worry as they had been at their first meeting.

Teyla smiled in reply, hoping to put her at ease. "Of course. Please come in." While Dee went to his bed and gathered his drawings and change of clothing his parents stepped just inside the door to wait. Teyla was thankful for their thoughtfulness. She did not find it easy sharing her quarters with many, and these strangers were more different than even those from Earth.

"Nice place." Crichton's eyes roamed over the walls and her bed, taking in the earth tones she preferred. Despite her self-consciousness, Teyla thanked him, unwilling to be discourteous. Aeryn Sun continued to watch her and say nothing, holding the weight of judgment in her steely gaze. Teyla bore it serenely with her head unbowed.

"Yo, Dee, please tell me you didn't stash food under there," Crichton broke the tension building between them. Both Teyla and his mother turned to see Dee crawling under his bed.

"It's not food. But it's . . . stuck." They heard him pulling on something with small grunts of effort. Teyla wondered what he had wedged down there and under what.

"Dee?"

"Just a microt."

Teyla wasn't sure how long a microt was but a minute passed and then another. "You know we should get curtains," she heard Crichton murmur to Sun.

"We have curtains."

"For the windows."

"We don't have any windows."

"We could put them in the center chamber."

"Then we'd probably end up eating them the next time Norianti decides to experiment."

"Command?"

The look Sun gave him was one Teyla had seen on many a wife's face, but Crichton simply grinned until an amused smile broke out on Sun's face. It was like stepping into a patch of sun, and Teyla began to see the shape of them.

A loud grunt and the sound of metal scraping from under the bed caught all of their attention, however, as Dee dislodged whatever he'd been grappling with and wiggled back into the light. It was another sketch pad which he added to the two others and the bundle of clothing before joining them.

"I didn't forget my lessons." He handed the pad to Crichton who opened it and, after flipping through a few pages, grinned again. He handed the book to Sun who also smiled when she saw the drawings.

"D'argo, you are one of a kind," Crichton pulled the boy into a tight embrace. Dee, too, was grinning proudly.

"He is a fine artist," Teyla couldn't help but compliment his talent. The drawings she had seen had been of things in Atlantis twisted into ships and creatures and landscapes as broad as Dee's imagination. His parents should be proud.

"We never thanked you properly for taking care of him," Sun looked over at her, her voice gentle for the first time. "I hope he wasn't too much trouble."

"No," Teyla smiled at Dee who stood safe under his father's arm. "At least, not once we convinced him we would not harm him and got him out of the ventilation system."

"You're kidding," said Crichton. "You disappeared into the woodwork?" he asked Dee, who frowned.

"The doctor was doing all this medical stuff. I could have stayed if I'd had food."

"It would not have been safe," said Teyla. "You were still injured when you ran away and that sector of Atlantis is structurally unsound."

"When did this happen?" Sun frowned at her son.

"At the beginning," he answered, undaunted by her sharp tone and the anger in her eyes. "I heard them talking after I woke up so I got out of there, but they cornered me."

Sun said something unintelligible that had Crichton grabbing her arm and murmuring "Hey, it's done. He's safe."

"They didn't try anything after that?" Sun fell back into English casting a wary eye on Teyla once more.

"No," said Dee in exasperation. "And I like Teyla even though she bosses me around. We made a deal that I could run away if I needed to. And Rodney's cool and shows me stuff. And they all like when I ask questions." He grinned up at Crichton who was chuckled and even Sun exhaled her anger and smiled for Dee.

"We had no intention of frightening him," said Teyla. "And we came to a fair agreement for his treatment."

"It was really drad. I did my own deal-making and everything." Dee was proud of himself, as he should be for adapting well to a frightening situation.

"Sounds like real school's paying off," remarked Crichton. "30 000 a year not gone to waste on a brand name after all."

"Daaad!"

"Thank you again for taking him in," said Sun as father and son began a friendly argument about Dee's education.

"Of course. It was my honor." Teyla nodded gravely and was met with a solemn nod from Sun. It was a truce as much as gratitude, though Teyla herself didn't fully understand what passed between them in that moment. What she did know was that regardless of her fears for Dee's safety, he was loved and where he belonged.

* * *

Nerves had Elizabeth elbow deep in Iyall reports at an early breakfast. She'd been at it half the night before falling into a fitful sleep and too many doubts. Now after toast and coffee she was feeling more confident and actually smiled when John and Ronon joined her, a herd of marines on their heels back from morning PT. 

"Elizabeth, you're here early." John set his tray down across from her, Ronon beside him.

"Gentlemen," she greeted them. "I was just going over everything we know about the Iyalls and our guests."

"Is it helping?"

Elizabeth sighed. "I have no idea. And I have no idea how Captain Sun and Commander Crichton are going to handle this. They refused to meet with me beforehand." The two sent mixed messages that had them pinging all over the map. "At least no will be armed."

"Small mercies," John agreed.

Three hours later as the Iyall delegates and Dee's parents eyed each other from opposite sides of the conference room, Elizabeth couldn't agree more. "Please, be seated," she invited everyone taking her own chair on the third side of the conference tables, John by her side. "Speaker Rao, may I present Captain Sun and Commander Crichton. Captain Sun, Commander, Speaker Rao and his assistant Tinelle. Let's get started, shall we?"

There was a pregnant pause before both pairs pulled out their chairs made themselves comfortable. The two Iyalls and their translator sat with perfect posture and a slight cant to the head that looked like disdain. Sun and Crichton both looked like they wanted to be on their feet, fidgeting slightly as they leaned forward in their seats. Their body language conveyed nothing but restrained hostility.

With her unlikely guests as ready as they would ever be, Elizabeth opened the proceedings.

* * *

"I thought I got rid of you." Rodney frowned but didn't look away from his computer. Out of the corner of his eye, Dee shifted on his feet until he was leaning on Rodney's knee. The contact startled the scientist given the size of Dee's personal bubble, but the boy didn't seem concerned or even hesitant. 

"I'm like a bad buck," said Dee.

"Penny."

"I thought a 'buck' was your currency."

"So's a 'penny'. Aren't you supposed to be with your parents or Teyla or someone not me?" Rodney finally looked at him.

Dee shrugged. "They're talking to the people who kidnapped me, and Teyla left me here 'cause she has to talk to her people. You waved when we came in."

"Oh, right." Rodney vaguely remembered someone bothering him a few minutes ago in the midst of analyzing the not-wormhole data. He looked at his computer clock and was surprised to find that it was closer to lunch than breakfast.

"What are you looking at?" Dee turned his attention to the screen. Rodney smiled. The honest curiosity about just about everything still gave him a kick to see, even if Dee didn't understand much or know how to read.

"The anomaly that hooks back to your universe. That's _not_ a wormhole."

"Dad says it's a wormhole."

Of course, Rodney rolled his eyes. "Well your dad doesn't know everything."

"He does about wormholes."

"Yes, I'm sure they're a nice bedtime story he's told you."

"He never talks about it. Are you going to do anything interesting?" Dee was looking at him guilelessly.

"Interesting!" Rodney knew that look of pure goodness; he'd certainly seen it on Sheppard enough and he was not going to be interrupted by the little . . . "Go sit in your corner!" Rodney snap, popped, and pointed.

Dee rolled his eyes but retreated to his corner and pulled out his ever present pad. There was a lot of shuffling and rustling, and it took several glares and demands for quiet for Dee to settle down until it was almost too quiet, but when he looked, Rodney saw that Dee was just flipping through his pad. There seemed to be a lot of closing his eyes involved, but whatever kept him quiet.

Finally, Rodney could get back to his data that, honestly, wasn't making sense at the moment. He knew he was missing something, another variable that their sensors didn't account for the only other thing it could be was an extra dimension or ten - and that was taking into account string theory – which . . . didn't make sense with the data. Rodney tried a few more elaborate permutations of the quantum calculations they'd worked with on the quantum mirror. He even was frustrated enough to try wormhole variant that had surprising but gibberish as results. When Radek came in and asked if wanted lunch he was trying linear transformations.

"Yes, lunch," he said absently. He typed two more lines of code and hit enter while Radek puttered at his bench. "Well, that crapped out. All right, I'm starving. Get the kid, will you?" He switched to the documentation file to jot down what he'd just done and cross it off the list.

"Kid?" asked Radek.

"Yes, Dee, he's in his . . . corner." Rodney turned, but no Dee. No Dee, no pad, no pen, and when Mrs. Hot-in-Leather-Captain-Sun found out, Rodney was so dead. "Where'd he go?"

"Rodney?"

"He was right here. He's never done this before. I put him in the corner, he stays in the corner." It had worked perfectly before. It was very simple. Dee liked Rodney and did, most of the time, what he said.

"Looks like this time he walked off," said Radek.

"Without me noticing?"

Radek gave him a look reserved for utterances of greatest stupidity, which yeah, Rodney deserved it, and hit his radio. "Control, this is Zelenka."

"This is Control."

"Dee is missing out of the labs. We need a search party immediately."

"Zelenka, this Lorne. Did you say you lost Dee?"

"McKay did, Major, yes."

"Oh, thanks, Zelenka."

"I'm sending a team down right away," said Lorne. "You might want to think about investing in a leash."

"He needs a ball and chain. Thank you, Major. I'll be right up to see if I can do something with the sensors," sighed Rodney. "McKay out."

He looked over at Radek. "Look, you go ahead to lunch. No need for both of us to skip meals." Radek didn't protest and clapped him on the shoulder as they headed for the transporter.

"The Major is right."

"His parents are going to kill me." Gruesomely, he just knew it. His mind had come up with several possibilities starting with broken fingers and was working its way through Chinese torture techniques by the time he left the second floor transporter and strode into the control room. "Anything?" he asked Chuck who shook his head.

"Same problem as before. No way to differentiate him."

"Search team?"

"They just got there, McKay," said Lorne as he bounded up the stairs. "No sign of him yet. How'd you lose him?"

"I was working and he walked out," Rodney said as quickly as possible. As one of the few people Dee listened to, it was embarrassing. "Yes, I know. Leash."

As he settled in to stare at the useless sensors, raised voices from the conference room attracted his attention. "Going well, I see," he nodded over there.

"Yeah," said Lorne with the slow drawl of sarcasm.

"Dad's mad."

Rodney spun around at the voice that was tucked in a former plant corner between the control room and the back corridor. "Just where the hell have you been?"

Dee blinked but didn't move. "Here." He would have said 'duh' had he the cultural background.

"I guess I'm calling off the search." Lorne was barely keeping the smile back. "And you should probably get him out of here."

"Yes, thank you, it had not occurred to me that letting him in sight of the dangerous aliens was a bad idea."

"Not to mention his parents would kill you," said Lorne. At Rodney's annoyed glare he shook his head and left him to Dee.

They stared at each other, the boy challengingly the same way he approached everything, and Rodney with deep irritation.

"I just wanted to see them." Dee broke the silence first.

"That's it?" Rodney glanced over at the closed conference room. "You can't even see them through the walls!"

"I can hear them," Dee said mulishly.

"Right. And your Dad's mad." Rodney repeated. He was pretty mad himself. "Now come on, let's go."

"No. Dad's mad, Mom's quiet, and there's gonna be fight," Dee said as if it were the most normal thing in the world. "You just gotta listen for guns to be drawn."

"Listen for – you're insane! No one in there has any guns except for Colonel Sheppard –" Dee's quick uncomfortable glance gave him pause. "Wait." He crouched and caught the boy by the shoulders. "What do you know?"

"Nothing." Dee pushed him off and glared. But he clearly did know, or at least had an idea.

"Dee, you are going to tell me, right now. What have your parents done?"

"Nothing!" he insisted. "Just – you can hear it."

"Hear what?"

Dee crossed his arms and didn't answer. "I'm not going anywhere. My parents are in there with _them_."

"Hear _what_?"

"I told you!" Dee cocked his head. "See?"

Thoroughly confused, it took a moment for Rodney to 'see' what Dee meant, but the tension in the control room at the sudden silence from the conference room more than drew his attention to it. Every eye was looking across the gallery. Dee's wide eyed stare was half afraid, half excited.

"I don't think they have their actual guns with them," whispered Dee. "But Dad drew lines."

* * *

From the moment Weir began speaking, Aeryn knew how this meeting would turn out. She'd heard it all before and the variance of third party involvement wouldn't change a thing. The Iyalls wanted what she and John couldn't give, they'd be backed into a corner and John would say something stupid. As she listened to Rao restate his call for justice for slaughtered innocents, Aeryn pondered how the frell they could scare them off from hunting them down. Unfortunately, twelve cycles, multiple agents, and two ships dedicated to finding them didn't leave a lot of room for normal intimidation or cut and run techniques. Nor did the talk of justice. 

"We do not intend to start a conflict. We simply wish restitution. Is this not what you do in your culture?" Rao finished with his translator speaking for the humans. His face was sincere, but even though Aeryn didn't know his species well enough to detect the delicate insult, she felt it was there.

Beside her, John did as well. "Not by kidnapping children," he snapped.

"We find that familial incentives induce cooperative behavior," replied Rao.

"Gentlemen," Weir spoke up. It was admirable that she was trying to keep things civilized, but ultimately futile as John kept talking over her.

"Funny. Where I'm from that's a crime as bad as murder."

"Commander Crichton!" Weir raised her voice, cracking it like a whip. "You will have your turn to speak. If you cannot respect the proceedings I will have to ask you to leave. Now," she continued to Rao without giving anyone time to protest. "Do you have anything else to add Speaker?"

Rao inclined his head politely and said, "I do not, Doctor Weir."

"Captain Sun, if you would state your case."

"They're lying. They know it, and we demand restitution for the kidnapping of our son."

"We were well within our purview to take him."

"Speaker Rao, I have to ask that you not speak out of turn either," said Weir.

"You know, as long as were talking about murder and ancient history," added John. "I think we can add on manslaughter charges for Zhaan."

"Not to mention assault on Moya," said Aeryn.

"Sabotage."

"Attempted murder."

"Theft."

"Property damage."

"Mental anguish." That one was good.

Rao did not look pleased if his flapping ear things were anything to go by. Aeryn kept a watchful eye on them, remembering the darts they held. They might not try anything in this room but with the two leaders of the city present she wouldn't put it past them. She wouldn't put much past them at all.

"Fictitious crimes to alleviate your guilt, no doubt," Rao nodded solemnly. "I understand there was conflict, but our information clearly shows the opposite."

"Or maybe it's the truth which you, no doubt, will refuse to admit," said Aeryn. "Now why don't we talk about what you really want?"

"As I have stated, all my people wish is justice."

Right. Of course. "Then why do you want Moya?"

"Moya?" Rao looked politely puzzled.

"That was the original deal, wasn't it," said John. "Our offspring for our ship."

"Excuse me, what?" asked Weir, looking back and forth between them and the Iyalls.

"Thought we forgot?"

"We have no designs on your ship. We took your child to bring you to our custody to pay for your crimes."

"Which wouldn't happen to include, say, a material form of payment?"

"It is not unheard of when dealing with alien species," replied Rao. "I have been advised to offer you the option, including intellectual information equivalent to that which you stole from us."

Rao looked at John as he said this, and Aeryn felt her breath catch. She had known it, absolutely, in her bones, known it would come to this. And by the end someone would be dead. Possibly a planet.

When he spoke, John's voice was raw. "No deal."

"Captain Sun, Speaker Rao, what is this price?" Weir broke the silence but not the tension that was mounting.

"I am not at liberty to accept anything less," Rao raised his hand to his translator for silence. Neither Weir nor Sheppard were pleased, but they were hardly part of this conversation and quickly forgotten with Rao's next words. "That is the price my superiors want for your lives."

"Speaker Rao, you agreed to this meeting and our conditions for it," cut in Weir with an arched eyebrow until Rao dropped his hand. It was a moment to breathe but it didn't help with coming up with Plan B. Or Plan A for that matter.

Aeryn settled for maintaining her intense glare on Rao. "We can't give you what we don't have."

"You are bluffing. And we are prepared to destroy this planet first as incentive." Rao looked at Weir. "I do not want that to happen, but if they do not comply, they will force our proof of determination."

"You still haven't explained the price you're asking," said Weir.

"Weapons," said Aeryn. She met Weir's gaze. "Unthinkable power over the universe."

"Knowledge," Rao countered with a smile. "Knowledge we would otherwise have gained were it not for the loss of our ship."

"Knowledge you've probably already regained in the cycles since it crashed into us," said John tightly. "I don't buy it."

"You misunderstand the damage the loss of our premier wormhole exploration vessel was to our civilization," said Rao. "We knew not the cause for many cycles. It set our whole program back and was the root of civil strife."

"One ship," John snorted in disbelief.

The smile left Rao's face. "You are one male."

"Look, the simple fact is that we don't have what you want," said Aeryn. She could feel the sides of this deal closing in on them already like prison walls. "Even if you destroy these people, we still will have nothing to give you."

"You would risk their lives to prove your point?"

"Now, wait just a moment!" Weir raised her hands. "Everybody take a step back. Obviously, you both believe we are pawns here, but I can assure you that I do not take lightly the threat to my people. Speaker Rao, I strongly suggest you impress upon your superiors that we will not take an attack sitting down."

"And that you underestimate our ability to defend ourselves," said Sheppard. He sat forward for the first time with a smile that Aeryn could recognize as anything but nice. "We've held off far scarier things than you from a space attack."

"And the planet where you spoke with Speaker Finna? Do you want their deaths on your heads?" Rao turned fully to Weir.

"On our heads, on their heads, no where near our heads," John's voice rose until he was shouting, "because _you_ will be the one pulling the trigger!" He was on his feet now, finger pointing at Rao. "Not us, not them. You."

Aeryn stood when Rao did, his assistant a heartbeat behind, and made space for her leg to clear the table, just in case.

"It will be you who condemns them to death if you do not comply!" Rao snapped back in a voice too controlled to be anything but angry. "I do not wish it. My superiors are reluctant, but we will protect our interests that you have stolen from us."

"We didn't frelling steal anything from you. That's just an excuse to snatch the most powerful weapon in the galaxy. Which we don't frelling have anymore!"

"You are lying to protect your interests! Knowledge cannot be so easily lost!"

"Gentlemen!" Weir tried shouting over them, rising as well with her Colonel, but Aeryn knew it was too late. John was beyond angry, and Rao equally wouldn't break eye contact.

"It was ripped from my brain by the person who put it there. Yanked, snatched, torn, shredded, don't leave a forwarding address on the way to the frelling coma!"

"A convenient answer and one that won't matter to my superiors." The translator was rapidly losing ground and finally just stopped trying to keep up.

"You can tell your superiors they can go screw themselves!"

"You cannot think that you will get away. Our reach has long since extended into your space."

"And you cannot think that I will not bring down three empires on your heads if you try!"

Silence. Absolute silence that not even the humans tried to break. And in that silence, in Rao's stature, in the quick glance of his assistant, Aeryn saw their out.

"You think the Peacekeepers and Scarrens will let you have a weapon that they saw destroy half of their armadas and a planet?" said John, deadly quiet. "You think the Hynerian Dominar will allow a threat to his godson to persist? Aw, look who's afraid of the big bad wolves."

Rao was wary for the first time. "Our forces are far superior to those of the Peacekeepers and Scarrens. You threats have no weight."

"Now who's bluffing?" said John.

"My superiors do not bluff," said Rao sharply, coming back to himself. "These powers will not stop us."

"But even you must know that it might start another war," said Aeryn and was rewarded when Rao refused to acknowledge her. "One you probably won't survive."

"It seems then that we need another solution." Weir smoothly filled the gap in the discourse. "One that will satisfy both your superiors," she nodded at Rao, "and the information you have available that will not spark a war," she nodded toward Aeryn and John. "And won't involve destroying my planet." The arched eyebrow was back, this time until John and Rao retook their seats. "Captain Sun?"

With a final sweep of the room ending on Colonel Sheppard and the open hand near his own weapon, Aeryn settled back into her seat. Neither Rao nor John had broken eye contact.

"Now," said Weir as she and Sheppard rejoined them at the table. "What do you have to offer?"

Nothing, but Aeryn kept that thought to herself.

* * *

D'argo was disappointed when nothing happened. He felt for sure there'd be pulse blasts and dead people, but in the end it was nothing but more waiting. Waiting and arguing with Rodney who finally agreed that yes, hidden he was probably safe, and yes, there were many people between him and the Iyalls including soldiers, and yes, they were on the far balcony where they posed little immediate threat. D'argo got lucky when someone wanted Rodney to look at something on one of the screens and he left him with a warning finger and an admonishment not to move. Like he was going to. 

Major Lorne came over then and crouched down in front of him. "It's really not safe for you up here."

"It's perfectly safe from right here." D'argo didn't bother to look at him. A fight was going to break out any minute. D'argo had waited through enough trades and talks to know that they could take a long time, but this was really taking forever.

"Look," Lorne was going to say something else, but before he could the multiple doors of the conference room swing open. D'argo shifted to his feet, shaking the foot that had fallen asleep as he watched the Iyalls descend the steps to the main staircase with the Colonel. Mom and Dad stayed behind with Elizabeth, and as soon as the Iyalls hit bottom, D'argo was running down and up steps to them, slamming into Mom's middle.

"D'argo!" she said surprised even as she pulled him under her arm. "I thought you were with Teyla."

"I wanted to see you," D'argo answered, but his eyes were caught below on the ambassador from the Iyalls. The man was the same glossy white though with a bluer sheen than the woman who'd kidnapped him. He stared back unreadable and strange until Dad stepped between them.

"We told you to stay with Teyla," said Dad. His back was to them and he wasn't pleased when he turned around.

D'argo turned his face toward Mom and breathed in her familiar scent. "But I wanted to see you."

"D'argo, we didn't want you up here while we were meeting with the Pathfinders." They started down the steps themselves and back across to the control gallery.

"I was perfectly fine!" he protested. "Rodney's with me."

"Right, and Rodney's doing such a great job keeping you out of trouble," said Mom with a pointed look at where the scientist was seated at a console chattering at the guy he was helping.

"He does better than the rest of us," said Elizabeth.

"Look, when it's your kid unsupervised within fifty feet of the people who kidnapped him, then you can say something," Dad gave her a disparaging look.

"Fair enough," Elizabeth nodded. "Colonel Sheppard is escorting the Speaker to his shuttle as we speak, so you won't have to worry about them."

"Yeah, I'll stop worrying when I'm dead, or better yet, they are."

"Can we go eat?" D'argo was tired of all the worry talk. Dad was always worrying about something and changing the subject was the best way of getting him and Mom to think about something other than him being where he wasn't supposed to be.

"Valiant effort," said Mom, ruffling his hair. "But yes."

"Mo-om." Why couldn't once she leave it alone?

"D'argo, you disobeyed us in a dangerous situation," she said in sebacean. "Despite your best efforts, we're not going to let you get yourself kidnapped. We'll talk about this later. Understood?"

"I'm sorry. I just wanted to see you!" D'argo really hadn't meant to put himself in danger. And with Rodney and the soldiers and his parents right there, he would have been fine if anything happened.

"Come on. Let's eat before we get really cranky," said Dad.

"Oh, Elizabeth, there you are," Rodney said, walking over to them. "We're picking up more anomalous readings near the Iyall ship. Stronger than before but they don't quite match our previous readings."

"Weapons?"

"They're not coming from the ship. The Iyalls are actually moving away from the fluctuations. They almost look like –"

"A wormhole?" said Dad.

"No." Rodney turned on him. "I was going to say they look like quantum fluctuations of negative energy that are more akin to alternate timelines than wormholes."

"Which is just a fancy way of saying it's a wormhole."

"No, a wormhole would imply conformity with relativity and this –"

"Yeah, well, Einstein didn't know crap about multidimensional space-time geometry."

"Gentlemen," Elizabeth interrupted, rubbing her forehead. "If we could shelve this debate until after lunch? I already have a headache."

Dad and Rodney eyed each other and Rodney muttered, "It's still not a wormhole."

Dad said, "Whatever," and looked like he wanted to smack Rodney to which Mom rolled her eyes and pushed both him and D'argo toward the transporter on the second level. Elizabeth stayed behind to listen to the rest of Rodney's report which D'argo tried to listen to, craning his neck back until Dad pulled him forward. "It's just the wormhole, kiddo. It's not stable yet and it's letting us know."

"How do you know?" Because, really, the Atlantis people weren't stupid and they had all these machines to tell them what was going on and some of them showed things that you couldn't tell if you weren't a ship yourself.

"'Cause that's what wormholes do. Once they're opened, they have a stability cycle and if it's not visible, it's not stable." They reached the transporter and D'argo darted inside to be the first to push the location, grinning when the doors closed and opened again on the busy hallway that led to the mess hall. He never got tired of that and wished they had something like it on Moya so they wouldn't have to walk all over the place.

The mess hall was on the less crowded side since they were at the later end of the lunch time. There were more scientists than soldiers since the duty shift change was at noon, which was how D'argo liked it. The soldiers were all nice enough but they still made him a little nervous. The scientists were much easier to deal with since they generally wanted to be left alone, though some of the women went out of their way to talk to him about what he was up to and if Rodney was being nice.

No one bothered him today, though, with Mom and Dad murmuring in sebacean to each other as they sat at a table in the corner. D'argo was looking around to see who was there and then poking at the food that was becoming more familiar day by day so it took a minute for him to register that Mom and Dad weren't just talking about the meeting, but actually scheming. Which, of course, made him sit up and pay attention.

"I think it's a perfectly reasonable request to know how the damn thing works before we try to extract it from Moya. Fastest way to learn is with a real one. They might buy it," Dad was saying about something.

"If they were born backwards," replied Mom. "The better plan is to steal one, input the false data on Moya and bring it back without them knowing anything about it."

"But they're gonna have input style and codes we won't know." Dad paused to chew and swallow. "Hell, they might even type, and they sure as hell don't use standard script like the rest of the galaxy."

"Could you figure out the source code?"

"Aeryn, the last time I tried programming something we got arrested."

"Oh, right. Forgot about that. Stark could do it but we'd have to capture and kill one of them first."

"Which is why we should get one of them to show us how the beacon works."

"What are we programming?" asked D'argo breathlessly in his mother's tongue. He _loved_ scheming. "And when did you get arrested?" He didn't remember anything like that happening recently.

Both Mom and Dad looked at him. "A long time ago, and we're trading the beacon full of wormhole info we stole for a full pardon and a leave-us-the-hell-alone," explained Dad.

"I thought you never took their beacon."

"We didn't."

"Oh." The stealing and programming another one made sense now. "Why don't you make one of them program it for you?"

"They'd know."

"Not if he died."

"We're trying to kill as few people as possible." D'argo rolled his eyes; they always said that.

"I thought they were going to bomb Atlantis if you didn't do what they want."

"We convinced them not to," said Dad.

"How?" The Iyalls had been pretty mad earlier.

"By lying through our teeth," said Mom. Usual tactics then. "Which will probably backfire sooner rather than later." They went back to discussing covert versus overt theft and in circles around how much data to give them without arousing suspicion. D'argo stayed quiet and listened. It was the best way to learn.

* * *

John made it to the mess with Rodney about ten minutes before it officially closed which was good because he hadn't restocked his power bar supply since Dee had shown up. The kid and his parents, who were definitely on the angry and crazy side of alien contacts, were still at their table in the corner, speaking, he found out as they joined them, in the weird clicky language that Dee was fond of. They stopped as he and Rodney approached. 

"Mind if we join you?" he asked with his all purpose, I'm-a-nice-harmless-guy smile. Crichton nodded while Sun remained as uncomfortably inscrutable as she had been in the meeting. Charm had no effect on her, and John got the sense that he was little more than a random and potentially hostile person on her radar. What was surprising was that it bothered him.

"The Pathfinders back on their ship?" Crichton broke his train of thought as he took a sip of his tea.

John nodded in reply, having heard the appellation enough to know he meant the Iyalls. Apparently it was what the Iyall wormhole scientists were called and had been introduced to Sun and Crichton way back when. "They'll be back tomorrow to finish the negotiations."

"You're not armed, are you?" asked Rodney, unexpectedly. Both Sun and Crichton looked at him dispassionately, as did John in surprise, wondering what had brought this on.

"Only with from the shoulder down," said Crichton, sounding more amused than offended by the question.

"Your soldiers searched us," added Sun with a glance at the John. She held his gaze a moment before turning it back to Rodney.

"Relax, Rodney, they're not going to shoot you," said John. "What's with the paranoia?"

The scientist looked at Dee, the others following his gaze until the boy protested, "I didn't say anything. You misconstrued my words by tapping into your fear of what the situation could escalate to." The words were odder than usual from the kid; his parents both closed their eyes and groaned.

Crichton was leaning forward now rubbing a hand over his eyes. "Would you quit quoting the old woman? It's creepy enough from her."

"D'argo, please tell me you didn't bring any drugs with you here," said his mother with a straight face. And like that, the veil of hostility was gone, evaporated into thin air. Yep, John thought, she definitely didn't like him. The revelation was followed by protests from Dee and the realization that she was serious about the drug question. Reflexively he looked at his plate, but Dee drugging them was just stupid.

"I just _said_ it might get violent." Dee sounded disappointed that it hadn't.

"What? The meeting?" John asked because that was the only thing that made sense.

"Wait, what's this about drugs?" asked Rodney with a wobble in his voice and his fork paused halfway to his mouth. John could see the hypochondria kicking in, and with the stuff they'd been through, it was justified, however unreasonable in their own mess hall.

Dee, however, pushed his desert bowl out of his way, plopped his elbows on the table and pouted. "You're teasing me."

"I'm perfectly serious," denied Rodney in the tones of pre-defending his position to the death.

John rolled his eyes. "Rodney, he didn't drug you. I've seen you drugged and this is not it. You talk way more when you're stoned. And about less appropriate things."

"Well, if you want to get into who's more embarrassing when they're stoned –"

"Rodney, let's not scare the guests," John cut him off before he really did get embarrassed.

Crichton looked back and forth between them then looked at his wife. "You know that's not a bad idea."

"What?"

But Sun seemed to know what he was talking about and neither one of them cared to enlighten anyone else. Watching the two of them, John could feel it their connection, it was so deep, one of long partnership that permeated every thought between them. He'd seen it earlier in the conference room, but then it had been different when they hadn't needed to look at each other.

"Yes, how polite," muttered Rodney. "Let's have little conversations without explaining them to everyone else.

Crichton and Sun just smiled with depths of sarcasm. Dee pulled his plate back closer. "Hey, you wanna see the movies later?" he twisted toward Crichton. "They've got some really drad ones, and some of them have swords and bows and arrows!"

"We're going to see Dr. Beckett today," said Crichton. "He said you were due for a check up."

"But we saw him yesterday!"

"Your mom and I saw him yesterday. You wreaked havoc in the hall."

"But Dad, I can't go see him today!"

"Why not?"

"I don't want to! He scares me." Dee's face screwed up, and Rodney muttered, "Oh, no, he's going to cry." John had seen him break down twice before, each time in the face of doctor's meetings and being left with anyone he didn't trust.

"He's gonna do experiments; I know it!"

"D'argo, he's going to make sure your ribs are in the right place. We'll be there for the whole thing."

"But Dad, they have drugs too! What if they knock you out! You don't understand –"

"D'argo, this is not up for discussion," Sun cut him off as if she couldn't understand his fear of doctors.

"I don't trust them. They'll trick you letting them do medical tests. Please, Mom, I don't wanna go!"

"D'argo."

"Dad, please, what if they hurt me?" Dee was starting to cry as he grabbed his father's arm. John hated this part – he always felt like he was dragging a puppy to the vet – but after a moment of surprised silence, Crichton shook Dee off, unimpressed.

"D'argo, quit the crocodile tears before I give you something real to cry about."

"I'm not faking!" was the angry reply.

Sun gave him a look that was more annoyed than sympathetic. "We know who you learned that trick from too."

"I don't like them. They scare me and they're gonna tear me to pieces."

Crichton grabbed the boy's flailing arm and pulled him around so they were face to face. "Don't make me repeat myself."

"I hate you! It's not fair," Dee yelled. The tears were gone. "I don't need a stupid check up."

"D'argo. You'll do as you're told," said Sun evenly, and that apparently was that. Dee sat back in his seat defiantly and glared at everyone, even John and Rodney.

John was a little too stunned at how quick Dee had been shut down to care. He could have sworn Elizabeth had tried the tough love thing, and he knew for a fact that both Rodney and Teyla had tried the yelling and reason things respectively, but that had never stopped the tears before.

"Crocodile tears?" demanded Rodney.

"I don't like Carson Beckett," Dee declared.

"You know, he's actually quite good at what he does," John rehashed the argument they'd tried last week for lack of anything else to say. Dee was once again unimpressed and stubborn.

"I think I should get to watch two movies tonight if I have to go," the kid informed his parents.

"Yeah, nice try," Crichton grinned at him and ruffled his hair amid more huffing and sighing. Shaking his head, he stood and picked up his empty tray. "Come on, let's go. Time to get you scared out of your wits." Dee reluctantly pulled himself to his feet and picked up his own tray, discontent in every exaggerated twist of his body and soon followed by more attempts at getting a movie out of the infirmary visit.

"You're not going?" Rodney asked of Sun who was still sipping from her mug.

She set her mug down and smiled. "I don't like doctors."

"So of course, you send your son to the wolves, hm?" said Rodney. The sense of not-quite-hostility was back as she studied them for a long moment. Rodney, never one to stand awkward stares, shifted in his seat. "What?"

But John had a feeling the real conversation was about to begin. Captain Sun was nothing if not direct, he'd seen that earlier too, a straight line thinker who hated all the diplomacy as much as he did. Both of them did actually. It fit them. So John sat back and waited.

"I was wondering," Sun began slowly, "what you know about the Iyalls?"

"Not much," John crossed his arms, wondering just what she was angling for. "Why?"

"Our only contact with them before all this was us fighting them. And today was . . . not advantageous." She chose her words as if she were negotiating with him, which would have been funny given his track record if she hadn't been asking him for help. "If we're to continue to deal with them, it would help to know more."

"Maybe you should ask Dr. Weir about this," suggested John because this certainly wasn't his forte.

"I'd rather speak with you."

"Him?" Rodney frowned. "Why?"

"Look, I'm not asking for much." Sun snapped a look at him, before meeting John's eyes once more, worried. "You realize these people are going to hunt us down if they aren't satisfied with our offer."

"You're giving them back their data." John was pretty sure that was what had come out of the meeting earlier.

"Which we never took in the first place."

Oh yeah. John bit back the 'you're screwed' that was on the tip of his tongue. The negotiation had been a pretty impressive display of stubbornness and unsubstantiated claims from all sides. If he was honest, John was rooting for Sun and Crichton, for Dee's sake if nothing else, but there was too much they simply didn't know. And neither did Sun and Crichton who still called the Iyalls by the title of their scientists.

John made the decision. "I'll see what I can do."

And wonder of wonders, Sun smiled tersely with gratitude. "Thank you."

John nodded and thought of the endless struggle against both the Wraith and the odds. He could sympathize.

"Rodney," Sun turned her attention to the scientist now that business with John was done. And from the tilt of her head, John knew he was going to enjoy this. "Why was my son in the control room earlier?"

Rodney froze for just a second then raised his finger. "All right, first of all? Not my fault."

Oh, yeah, John reached for his coffee. This was going to be good.

* * *


	8. Eight

For a Pocketful: Eight

AN: I realize this is months later than anticipated, but here it is. Chapter 9 is started. I will finish this fic, not to worry. It just might be slow at times and for that I apologize in advance.

* * *

After two days of staring at the anomaly data, Rodney was ready to admit that _maybe_ it was a wormhole. And maybe was stretching it. It was definitely cyclical, definitely not growing, and definitely frustrating in the way that all good puzzles were. Unfortunately, having eliminated almost all other reasonable explanations, it left him with Crichton being right, and Rodney wasn't ready to admit that yet. On the plus side, Crichton didn't seem to care. On the negative side, Dee did, and with his parents in negotiations all day, guess who was still stuck babysitting in the mornings.

"Rodney, there you are." Rodney looked up as Sheppard strolled in. "You missed dinner."

"What?" Rodney toggled to the clock on his computer, and damn if it wasn't two hours later than he thought it was. "Why didn't you come get me?" he demanded, noticing the empty lab at the same time. Sheppard almost always came and got him if he was late.

"Rodney, we have guests," said Sheppard, leaning on Rodney's desk. "The Iyall delegation landed this afternoon."

"They came to an agreement?" asked Rodney, surprised. The news so far had been shouting and more shouting.

"Finally," Sheppard replied heavily. Elizabeth had been handling most of the negotiations, but Sheppard had never been far away. "Crichton and Sun did some fast talking to get an extra data receptacle, not sure why, but I thought I'd go ask them."

"You think they're going to pull a fast one?" Made sense if their story was true.

"They're up to something. I gave Sun what we had on the Iyalls, Elizabeth's notes mostly."

"I hope you asked her."

Sheppard gave him a look. "I'm not that stupid. It took a little convincing, but she okayed it. Now come on." He gave Rodney's sleeve a tug, getting him to stand and follow Sheppard out the door.

"Where are we going?"

"The kitchen and then the rec room," said Sheppard. "I haven't told you the best part yet. The Iyalls are demanding that _we_ send along two soldiers to ensure that everyone holds up their end of the bargain while Crichton is getting their data receptacle thing."

"They want us to act like peacekeeping troops?" Rodney blinked. "You know from their perspective that's actually a good idea."

"Except that I'm sending me and Teyla," shrugged Sheppard with a knowing smirk.

"Which brings us back to what precisely Crichton and Sun are up to."

"Exactly."

* * *

The best thing about the tv and the movies and the couches and the popcorn that one of the soldiers that was wrapped around Dee's finger dropped off, was watching his son bounce around like it was Christmas. With the last few days tied up in the conference room, they hadn't spent as much time with Dee as they should. Mostly meals and time after dinner together like now. It was rough on D'argo. School work was a lost cause and kept getting conveniently forgotten – the one problem with verbal assignments that he and Aeryn were letting him get away with at the moment.

Here now, Dee was all over the place. The movie he'd picked was _Troy_, the next in the string of historical fiction that was "so drad! They don't even use guns. It's all swords and arrows like the ancient Luxans!" He was spellbound by it and kept interrupting at the beginning with a thousand questions on how everything worked and the context and analogies to things the Old Woman taught him about the history of their corner of space.

Forty minutes in, he finally settled into the story only complaining about why the girls were so important whenever they showed up. This of course sparked the tag teaming from Aeryn about why the women were considered inferior to the men and all sorts of gender issues better left for a college class. John threw popcorn at the two of them curled up at the other end of the couch, making them laugh.

There were tears when Hector died and awe at the Trojan Horse. "This is an object lesson for you," said John as Troy was destroyed. "Never trust gifts from your enemies."

"Is this why you never do?" asked D'argo, his wide eyes never leaving the screen. "It's from an Earth story?"

"One of them."

"Not to mention it's good sense," added Aeryn.

Movement at the door grabbed John's attention as Sheppard and McKay walked in, the scientist with a sandwich and the soldier with a mission. They both stopped when they saw the movie was near the end, Sheppard elbowing McKay hard when the other man was about to speak. They sat down on the other couch and made themselves comfortable while the Aneid was set up and prophesy was fulfilled.

"He died?" D'argo wailed. "Hector and now him? That's so not fair!" He threw himself back against the cushions. "And for a stupid girl!"

"Crazy things you'll do for a woman," John grinned at his boy and then met Aeryn's eyes over his head. She smiled back, and John decided not to mention the glisten in her eyes.

"I'll never do anything like that," declared Dee.

John laughed because there was no ten year old alive who didn't eat his words about girls in less than five years.

"Sure you will," Sheppard obviously agreed. "Good looking kid like you?"

"Please, he doesn't need any tips," McKay rolled his eyes at his friend. "And did you just let him watch this whole movie? There's sex in it."

"I know what sex is," snapped Dee, rolling his own eyes. Yeah, that had been a battle lost by the time he could put together what Chiana said.

"So," Aeryn cut in before McKay got his hackles up. "What brings you gentlemen to join us this evening?"

"Oh, nothing much," Sheppard said in a bad attempt at nonchalance. D'argo rolled his eyes again and inched over to John until his head was on his chest. John pulled and tugged to make him a little more comfortable and Lil' Dee rolled his head back to look at him.

"You never did anything stupid for Mom, did you?"

"You mean like break into Scarren ships and rescue her from torture?"

"But you had to do that!"

"Yes, I did," John agreed.

"Well?" Aeryn asked the other two men.

"Well, as you know, you're getting two of my people when you go back to your reality," Sheppard began. "I know you're planning something to get out of this mess and I just wanted a little heads up as to what." He smiled. "Since I did you a favor and all."

John looked over at Aeryn who shrugged with her eyes back. Plan A was chancy as it was and depended on surprise. It would, of course, be easier with Sheppard's people on their side. "Who are you sending?" John asked. "Do you trust them?"

"Me and Teyla," said Sheppard, which came as a surprise, but a pleasant one.

"He did help us once," Aeryn said in sebacean.

"It has something to do with the data receptacle, doesn't it," said McKay. "I can help with that." He was sincere. They both were.

"All right," said John with another glance at Aeryn. "This is Plan A."

* * *

The official agreement signing was a tense affair. The Iyall Commander and John Crichton never once took their eyes off each other while Captain Sun and Speaker Rao handled the formalities. Elizabeth couldn't read the writing the treaty was written in but both parties apparently could and both agreed it was on the up and up. Now they just had to stick to it. Elizabeth wasn't betting on the likelihood of that and already had Rodney readying Atlantis's defenses.

"Captain Sun, may I present, Pathfinder Lyal and Pathfinder Hadda," Speaker Rao introduced the two Iyall who would supervise the recovery of their data.

"Pathfinders," Sun nodded gravely. She and Dee would remain on Atlantis as insurance along with a delegation of three Iyalls. They would accept nothing less, and on the surface it was more than reasonable, but Elizabeth didn't like the undertones. Nevertheless, she did her part. She just hoped that whatever John was cooking up with Crichton wouldn't backfire on them.

"Commander Jara, Speaker Rao, may I present the Atlantean delegation, John Sheppard and Teyla Emmagen." The two of them smiled pleasantly, Teyla in the practiced manner of a diplomat and John with the edginess that set most people to chasing them with spears.

"All parts of the agreement are in order," said Speaker Rao. "The equipment you requested is ready for your departure."

"We'll go when the wormhole's stable," Crichton spoke for the first time. "Five arns." He shook his head back and forth as if he were listening for something. "Five and a half. We'll see you at the pod." He continued his staring match with Jara. "We done here?" he asked lightly with a small smile that was anything but friendly.

"I think that concludes this meeting," said Elizabeth. "Commander?"

"Yes. I will return in eight solar days," Jara repeated the terms of the agreement. "See that you hold up your end of the bargain, Crichton. I would hate to have to retake possession of your family."

"Just hold up yours and you won't have anything to worry about," snapped Captain Sun. "Now if you don't mind, we've had enough extortion for one day." She nodded curtly and turned on her heel and left. Crichton waited a beat and then followed, easily catching up to her on the stairs.

The Iyalls muttered in their native language and then bowed gracefully to Elizabeth. She returned it and smiled with a practiced ease she didn't feel.

* * *

Aeryn found Teyla where Ronon said she'd be in the small gym. It was small and quiet and softly glowing in the afternoon sun. The woman was doing a martial battle routine with two sticks. It was poetry in motion, a deadly dance like many Aeryn had seen but not herself practiced. The Peacekeeper routines she learned as a child lacked the grace of Teyla's moves.

Teyla didn't stop when she noticed Aeryn standing quietly by the door. Instead, she nodded and continued the pattern until it came to a natural resting place. Only when she lowered her sticks did Aeryn speak.

"It's very beautiful."

"It is how my people have fought the Wraith since the time of the Ancestors," Teyla replied. She stepped toward the window and the water waiting there.

"You learned it as a child?" Aeryn came and joined her, not needing to see Teyla nod. It was clear in every line of her body that she was a warrior.

"My father taught me," Teyla added with a wistful smile. "I offered to show Dee, but he preferred to spend time in the labs or in front of the television."

Aeryn frowned at that. "He was just injured."

"Injured does not mean he cannot move," said Teyla with a smile that Aeryn didn't quite like. "I would not have harmed him and sometimes exercise aids healing."

"And sometimes it leads to more injury," countered Aeryn. Another reason that Dee would have turned away from putting himself at greater risk from people larger and more capable than him, a corollary to what to do when you get lost: stay where you feel safest. The School of Hard Knocks, as John referred to life on Moya on the trade route, was no easy place for a child, and they made frelling sure that the children knew what to do should the unexpected happen.

Teyla wisely didn't answer that, instead offering Aeryn the sticks. "Would you care to try?"

The wood was smooth with wear and each stick was perfectly balanced. Teyla produced another pair from her bag and stepped onto the mat expectantly. It was a challenge, but for what Aeryn couldn't decide. The intrusion possibly, or their arrival. Since Aeryn had come to talk about Teyla going back with John to Moya, she shrugged out of her coat and stripped off her long sleeve shirt before joining her on the mat.

It had been cycles since ground combat training, and even longer since she'd done it without an energy weapon of some kind. Teyla's first parry clearly showed who was the master and who was out of her league, but Aeryn did block it, feeling the vibrations up to her shoulders. It had been a long time, but she had been fighting from birth. Her counterattack had Teyla on her back foot for all of a second before the other woman easily sidestepped and retaliated. Aeryn barely missed getting her arm smashed. Teyla was going easy on her, she could feel it, and Aeryn didn't think she was good enough to change that.

The two sticks were clumsy in her hands, too long and far from her body for comfort. Moves she was used to with her hands did not translate well. When she tried to use her feet, the longer reach of the sticks allowed Teyla to easily block her kicks. But it did make her smile slightly and adjust a step back. Her next attack sent Aeryn almost to her knees, until she gave in and decided to use a trick learned from Chiana and John. She let her grip falter. Teyla followed up her advantage but backed off at the last moment to let her recover. Chivalrous and appropriate for a friendly sparring session.

In the next parry, Aeryn blocked too low; the stick in her right hand went flying across the mat. She dropped with the force of the blow and this time Teyla did not ease up but followed through, landing several blows through Aeryn's single defensive stick which she ignored until the former Peacekeeper gave up pretense, lashed out her leg, and tackled Teyla to the floor, rough, dirty and snatching her knife from her boot to Teyla's throat.

In the sudden stillness, both their pants echoed through the room. Something akin to respect was in Teyla's eyes, or Aeryn hoped it was. She was a warrior and one never knew how they would react to dirty tactics.

After a long pause, Aeryn shifted her weight back to her knees and off. Teyla sat up slowly. She watched as Aeryn put her knife back into the sheath but didn't comment. Aeryn didn't say anything when their gazes locked a moment later. When she stood and offered Teyla a hand up, the other woman accepted. She helped pick up the sticks she'd lost, but she paused just before she handed them back.

"I expect my family back in one piece," she said quietly. Whatever was in the air between them, Teyla nodded once, solemnly.

"They will not come to harm from us," she said.

"Thank you." Aeryn released the sticks into Teyla's care. She left without another word.

* * *

How Rodney got stuck leading the tour for the Pathfinders, he wasn't sure. It was one of those things that Elizabeth managed to steamroll him into by insisting and stroking his ego, which, while he saw it happen, he never failed to succumb to. Sometimes he hated that Elizabeth was so good at her job. He was overqualified for playing tourguide, obviously, and it certainly wasn't necessary for any reason other than politics, but given the many, even infinite ways, Crichton and Sun's plan could go wrong, Rodney thought it prudent to get to know their guests a little bit better. Just in case he had to save the day again.

He did the rounds of safe places: the control room, the botany labs and greenhouses, the grounding stations and piers, the mess. The Iyalls didn't "ooh and ahh" but they were attentive and asked a lot of questions their translator couldn't translate. The tall one kept stroking the walls and examining the crystal conduits to the point of ignoring Rodney who rationalized the slight with the fact that they probably didn't understand what he was saying anyway.

They were weird. Alien in more ways than Teyla and Ronon or even the Wraith who they only saw through the lens of an enemy. Intelligent, he would even go as far and say cultured, but despite the two eyes and humanoid shape, there was an underlying sense of wrongness that pervaded in close company. Maybe it was the smell, or the way they stared at him when they bothered to try and understand. Regardless, it was with great relief that he dropped them of with the anthropologists.

Unsaddled, he headed back to the labs, new ideas for transformations and simulations for the anomaly data, and a question or two for Crichton while he was at it. The more he thought about it, the more it might be a wormhole. Since most of the soft sciences were as far away from the real science labs as Rodney could get them, he had to pass through the one of the living sectors to get to the nearest transporter. It was the smaller one near the mess that held the main rec room, and when he passed it, Rodney heard Dee and Crichton's voices but didn't see them.

"– twelve cases of cartridges, how many are there?"

"Who packaged them?"

"Peacekeepers."

Ideas of catching Crichton before he went off to get ready to go and curiosity made Rodney stop and take a couple steps in until he could see over the back of the couch. Crichton and Dee were on the floor by the DVD shelf facing each other, both cross legged with a closed notebook between them. Rodney was standing far enough back and at an angle, that they didn't notice him.

"Two hundred and sixty four," said Dee. "Can I take them?"

"What you can carry. How much space do you have in your bag?"

Dee rolled his eyes up in thought. "I've got two packages of food cubes, a water pouch, a wrench, and flashlight. They took up twenty seven cubic denches. I've got . . . 36 left."

Crichton nodded. "Say the cartridges are dench and a half by one."

"Dad," Dee whined, twisting and rolling his head in annoyance. "I hate fractions.

"Take it a step at a time," said Crichton patiently. As Dee started repeating numbers and figuring out the problem, Rodney watched a little stunned at this approach to learning math. Word problems wrapped into what sounded like a version of Dungeons and Dragons. He had to stop himself from jumping in and correcting Dee when he overestimated the number of cartridges that would fit and was glad he didn't when Crichton said, "the last two fall out of your bag and clatter to the floor."

"Frell!" Dee twisted again. "Did anyone hear it?"

Crichton reached out and lightly slapped his cheek. "Watch your mouth. And you don't know yet. There's no sounds of movement from beyond the door."

"Dad!" Dee wailed again.

But Crichton just grinned. "What do you want to do next?"

"I don't want to fight anyone today," Dee huffed. "I'm tired of fighting."

"Okay. What do you want to do?"

"I don't know," Dee sighed again. "Are we done yet? I don't want to do school anymore."

This time Crichton ran a hand through Dee's hair. "Hey," he said softly.

"Hey." The boy stared at the floor, leaning into his father's touch.

"What's wrong?"

Silence met the question at first, but Crichton simply out-waited it until Dee finally said, "I wanna go home with you."

"I know, kiddo." Crichton pulled Dee over to him and into his lap, and as he did so, Rodney stepped carefully back out into the hall, suddenly uncomfortably aware that he was intruding.

* * *

The little bug-like ship Sun and Crichton flew in on was ugly but roomy. There were only two seats available, one of which Crichton took while the other was already occupied by a little robot. John faltered when he saw it and the two light stalks like eyes wiggled at him. It was painted red, white, and blue, with "1812" written in black on its back.

"What's this?" he asked, pointing.

"1812, Colonel Sheppard. Colonel Shepaprd, 1812," Crichton introduced them absently as he did whatever preflights the little ship needed.

The last two hours had gone by in a rush with everyone involved in the mission emerging from the woodwork. Teyla had been unusually quiet when she's joined John to get their gear together and all attempts John made to figure out what was bothering her were met with her diplomatic smile. Now she stood by the door with the Iyalls, perring around curiously.

"This is a short range craft?" she asked.

"Transport pod," Crichton confirmed. "Shuttles us between Moya and wherever we need to go. Grocery store, Walmart, other realities."

"You do this often?" Teyla sounded surprised, somehow missing the sarcasm.

"Only when rescuing kidnapped children."

When Crichton had arrived in the control room with Dee, Rodney had fluttered around, overly annoying and almost nice to Dee when he started asking questions, flickering these looks at Crichton who ignored him until Rodney finally conceded that yes, it could be a wormhole. Nerves, but about what John wasn't sure. Rodney was usually more gracious and abrupt when he was admitting he was wrong, quick to move on and not dwell on his mistake. It had only been a moment, but something had been there before setting up the monitoring had stolen his attention.

"Sheppard, do you read?" Rodney's voice came over the radio.

"Yeah, McKay, we're here."

"All right. We're all set up here. You can tell Crichton that you're clear for take off."

"Aeryn?" Crichton asked for his own clarification of the relayed message. The words that came back were in her native language, as were the ones Crichton replied with. John thought he heard Dee's voice over their communicators too, but he wasn't sure. It was, however, taking longer than necessary.

"Lengthy goodbye?" he said when Crichton finally signed off and powered up the pod. The other man didn't bother to look at him, focused on the view through the front grill and his readings on the small screen in front of him.

"We don't say goodbye."

They hadn't on Atlantis. John remembered waiting for Crichton to leave Elizabeth's office – the latter looking none too pleased when she emerged. He and Sun had spoken briefly, clasped hands, and then Crichton had pulled Dee into a bear hug that was equally returned. He'd followed John and Teyla out the door without looking back.

Take off wasn't as smooth as it was in the jumper, but it was the nature of the pod rather than Crichton's flying skills. John felt a little edgy not being in the cockpit and forced to stand on top of that. He wasn't sure how to dislodge the little robot. The thing pointed a red laser light at him every time he got close. Soon it didn't matter as they left the atmosphere and everything evened out. Through the front windows, the Iyall ship loomed large, spindly and cylindrical, as alien as her people in design.

"Y'all might wanna sit down before we hit the wormhole," said Crichton.

"When shall it open?" asked Teyla, coming around to join John on the floor in front. The Iyalls had settled on the other side of the copilot seat, muttering to each other. They had been nonentities thus far, ignored by Crichton and holding an uncertain place with John and Teyla.

"Soon," said Crichton. "Just . . . about . . ."

"Sheppard," said McKay over the radio, "we're picking up the subspace anomalies."

"Now."

Bright, blue tinged light flooded the pod as a wormhole unlike any John had seen appeared in space before them. No water spout, no shimmering event horizon, just a funnel, of flickering blue fading into nothingness.

"Aeryn?" said Crichton as he held their position.

"Go." It was Captain Sun that John heard.

"Once more into the breach," said Crichton, and they were moving forward, then caught by gravity, and the next thing John knew they were on the wackiest, fastest roller coaster ride of his life. Blue and bumpy and spinning so fast that John had no idea how Crichton was navigating. It was a single stream with no way out that suddenly evened out and they were sliding along.

Teyla was clenching the grillwork of the floor beside him, shaken by the rush. Behind them, the Iyalls were better braced, whispering again and pointing things out to each other in a way that spoke of much more experience with this than anyone else on board except Crichton.

"This is much different from the stargates," said Teyla quietly. Her eyes were locked on the view, and John could only agree. Passing from one planet to the next all you got was cold sensation that was there and gone in a heartbeat. This was real flying through space and time, a whirlwind of blue that went on and on. He didn't know how long they flew, a few minutes, a half an hour. When he turned to ask Crichton, the intense calm that spoke of concentration made John change his mind. He didn't want to find out what happened if they rammed into the walls.

It wasn't much longer. As suddenly as the wormhole ended, they were in normal space again, endless stars and no planets. Nothing, in fact, was visible in their vicinity. Just space.

"Pilot?" Crichton called out.

Nothing. No reply. And then a garbled voice echoed through the pod. John released the breath he hadn't realized he'd been holding. Crichton grinned and nodded to him, adjusting controls and spinning them around until and golden ship shaped like a teardrop came into view.

"Pilot, it's good to hear your voice," said Crichton, relief coloring his words. "Moya looks beautiful."

And she did. As Crichton chatted with his crewmate, John took a moment to remember that the ship outside was alive, that he was in another _universe,_ and that he and Teyla were about to get themselves wrapped up in something dangerous and potentially monumentally stupid. But only a moment. Another day another alien after all.

"Pretty cool, huh?" he grinned at Teyla who returned his smile in kind.

"Let us hope the rest of our mission remains so," she answered with a flick of her eyes at the Iyalls. John followed her gaze to where they were huddled together, smiling.

* * *

"Aren't they funny looking?" Dee spun, arms wide to encompass everything. Mom smiled at him before looking about her.

"You say that about everything that's not hynerian or leviathan," she said taking in the room full of puddle jumpers. Dee loved the name. That was the dradest thing about them, followed by the fact that some people could control them with their minds. He couldn't, which was stupid but hardly surprising, but still. "These things actually fly?"

"Yes," said Radek. "Amazing, I agree, but one thing the Ancients could do was build ships."

"The city's a ship," Dee informed her. "Engines and everything."

"Well I'd certainly hope it'd have engines if it flies," Mom grinned at him. "What's their fuel?" she asked Radek with a nod at the puddle jumpers.

They started walking closer to the one parked on the floor so Dee scampered ahead to be the first one there. He put his hand out to touch the cool metal. If he was a mutant like Carson or Colonel Sheppard it would light up and open just like that, but he had to wait for Radek to hit the controls first instead. He and Mom were talking batteries and energy and conversions and all sorts of things that sounded familiar and Dee had already asked about. It was hard to keep straight in his head, but it all boiled down to the weird circuitry that Rodney had explained about. Dee still wasn't sure why these Ancient people hadn't just used wires; they seemed to be much more efficient. Even Moya had them.

Dee beat them to the cockpit and the pilot's chair. Rodney had lit everything up for him once but he hadn't been allowed in the air. He was hoping Mom could convince them. For purely professional observations only of course, one ship builder to another. Dee hadn't drawn any of this yet, hadn't seen how it flew on the crystal circuitry and he was dying too. Also dying to get outside. He'd never been on a planet this long without really seeing the sun. Maybe they could go see Teyla's people.

"Hey, Mom?" he turned in his seat to ask her, only then the lights went out behind him. It was weird, and then they came back on like nothing had happened. Radek looked confused about it, and a second later he was excusing himself to go back to the lab to help Rodney.

Suddenly, the jumper bay seemed to get darker and colder. As they followed him out, Dee grabbed Mom's hand and squeezed it to get her attention. "Stay close," she said, eyes worried. She didn't try to hide her concern because anyone who lived on a ship with self-contained power knew that lights were only a symptom of worse to come.

* * *


End file.
